


the haunting of inazuma town manor

by angeltalk, dandelionbeach



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, drama-fluff-horror-comedy sleepover combo, post-galaxy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25528531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeltalk/pseuds/angeltalk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionbeach/pseuds/dandelionbeach
Summary: They’re at the door now. Dread wells up in Tsurugi’s stomach. Whatever is making that noise, paranormal or not, it can’t be good.But there’s no time to second-guess the decision to confront whatever is waiting for them behind that door, because Minaho is already wrenching it open.[ Or, the sleepover that Tenma’s been planning for months is finally here, but something is lurking in the depths of Shindou Manor. Something that promises nobody will be sleeping tonight. ]
Relationships: Ibuki Munemasa/Shindou Takuto, Kusaka Ryuuji/Morimura Konoha, Manabe Jinichirou & Minaho Kazuto, Matsukaze Tenma/Tsurugi Kyousuke
Comments: 30
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again with another Inazuma collab. You might have read our other collab piece 'the most dangerous food is wedding cake' and already know how this is going to go. 
> 
> Welcome to the Earth Eleven sleepover. I hope you're not afraid of the dark.

“Guys… if aliens are real, do you think ghosts are, too?”

Tenma glances down curiously at Shinsuke beside him. It’s nighttime at the Shindou Manor, and the ex-members of Earth Eleven are sitting in a close circle on the floor of Shindou’s enormous bedroom. Having the team sleepover was Tenma’s idea, but it was Shindou who offered his hospitality for the occasion. 

It’s been exactly three months since they saved the galaxy and returned the moon to its rightful place in the night sky. Tenma loves every team he’s ever been a part of - but it’s not hard to admit this one is different. Saving the entire extended universe with each other really brings people together, apparently. It took forever to get everyone’s schedules to line up, but in the end they made it work. 

“No way.” Matatagi protests as he rolls his eyes at Shinsuke. He’s lying on his stomach with a pillow under his elbows to prop himself up. “Aliens are one thing. Ghosts are just kids’ stuff.”

Shinsuke pouts at him.

“Actually, ghosts are real.” Minaho pipes up from where he sits next to Matatagi with Manabe on his other side. He’s wearing an orange footie onesie, which he insisted earlier was ‘more efficient’ than whatever pyjamas the rest of them are wearing. Tenma still isn’t so sure about that. “It’s childish to reject the evidence that they do exist.”

“Says the most childish guy in the room!” Matatagi flings a spare pillow at him, which the young detective dodges with a lean to the side and a grin. 

“No, no, Minaho’s right!”

Everyone in the circle turns to look at Sakura in her spot between Konaha and Tetsukado. She folds her arms and looks at the rest of them with a troubled sort of concentration. 

“How would you know?” Matatagi grins mockingly. “Let me guess. You ‘saw’ one.”

“Shut up. It happened to me and my friends.” Sakura says. She readjusts her legs underneath her and places her hands on her lap. “I’m serious. Three years ago, when my whole gymnastics team was staying over at this hotel for a competition-”

She’s interrupted by Ibuki. “Is this gonna take awhile?” He stretches his long, sweatpant-covered legs out into the center of the circle. “Just asking.”

Across the circle, Tetsukado chucks a pillow at him.

Sakura glares at Ibuki. “ _Anyway_ , as we were checking in, the receptionist said something about staying in our rooms ‘cause it was the full moon, so the ghost that haunted the hotel would be roaming the halls.” She says, Ibuki’s comment forgotten. “We totally didn’t believe her. Like, ghosts are stupid, right? I also used to think aliens were stupid, though…”

At Sakura’s pause, Tenma finds himself wishing they’d turned the lights on in Shindou’s room. Whose idea was it to keep them off, anyway? The darkness suddenly feels a whole lot darker. He shudders.

“Later that night, me and my friends were going to get snacks from the vending machines, and the whole building was dark. I thought it was weird because the floors are supposed to be lit the whole night, you know? And there was this faint wailing, like someone was hurt. A faint screaming sound lower in the hotel.” 

“That doesn’t prove there was a ghost.” Manabe interjects, pushing his glasses up on his nose with a finger. He’s wearing a sensible flannel pyjama set - it’s pink, which Tenma remembers is his favorite color. “This sounds like you just got scared over nothing.”

“I’m not done!” Sakura and Manabe glare at each other for a moment. “Can you guys stop interrupting? It wasn’t ‘nothing’. There was nobody in the halls, nobody at reception, no sign of life. The whole building was empty, and dark. Except for a singular light up ahead, at the reception desk. It started getting cold, like really cold...the kind of cold you can feel in your bones.”

Manabe’s mouth is clamped shut now and his glare is gone as he listens intently to Sakura’s words. Several other members of the team look like they’re holding their breath, but Shindou is showing Ibuki and Tsurugi something on his phone. Aren’t those guys even the least bit scared?

Tenma ignores them and prompts Sakura. “...What happened when you got there?” 

“That’s when we saw her.” Sakura says, her voice low and ominous. Tetsukado pulls his legs to his bare chest beside her. “A girl, standing by herself in the lobby. She was making this horrible wailing sound. I don’t think a human can even make a noise like that. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still hear it.” She shudders.

Tenma gulps. He edges himself and Shinsuke - who is clinging to him - closer to Tsurugi on his other side.

“But it wasn’t just the sound. She was wearing a dirty white nightgown, and her face was covered with this greasy, disgusting black hair. She just stood there, like she was floating. She didn’t have any _legs_.”

“Oh,” Minaho sounds like he’s disappointed instead of scared. “So it wasn’t a real ghost.”

“What do you mean, not a real ghost?” Kusaka grumbles, “Didn’t you hear what Sakura said? No legs, long black hair. That’s a ghost.”

“No, it’s not,” Minaho states. He holds one finger up. “Real ghosts don’t look like that. The white burial gown, missing legs, and long black hair is a common portrayal of ghosts that stems directly from kabuki theatre. That interpretation of ghosts is faulty because it’s based on pop culture, and not science. A real ghost wouldn’t look like a person with hair all over her face.”

Sakura huffs in frustration. “I don’t think she even _had_ a face. There was no way it wasn’t a ghost.”

“Did you run?” Shinsuke asks from where he is huddling against Tenma, voice small.

“Of course we ran! Being part of the gymnastics team means you need to be strong and have good stamina!” Sakura says matter-of-factly before her tone quickly turns serious. “But she was right behind us the whole time, no matter how fast we ran. We just barely got away.”

That’s the last straw. Tenma grabs onto Tsurugi’s arm.

“Nobody slept that weekend. We read about it later on the internet. An old article scanned into a database from the seventies said someone died there, and ever since then people mysteriously disappear... Only those who see her directly live to tell the tale. It’s mostly dismissed as an urban legend but… I saw her. I swear."

Nobody says a word as Sakura’s tale comes to an end. The atmosphere is tense. Tenma glances uneasily at his friends one by one. There’s no way that there’d be a ghost like that here, right? Shindou’s mansion is very big. There are a million spaces for ghosts to slip through the cracks.

“Sh-Shindou-san…” Tenma begins. Shindou looks up from his phone with his eyebrows raised. The screen’s glow lights his face from beneath, casting ominous shadows over his expression.

“Yeah?”

“Is your house haunted?”

Shindou laughs brightly at that, but waves him off. He puts his phone in the pocket of his obviously-designer blue silk pyjama shorts and leans back on his hands. “Of course not. I mean, I’ve never even thought about it.”

“Are you sure? Did anyone die here?”

Before Shindou can respond, Ibuki speaks up. “Can we get some snacks? I’m hungry.”

“The pantry’s downstairs, you can have whatever you want,” Shindou tells him, distracted from Tenma’s question.

Ibuki groans and falls backwards so he’s lying on the floor facing the ceiling. “I don’t want to get up. Can someone else go?” 

“Oh, are you scared?” Matatagi sneers teasingly. “You think Sakura’s evil ghost lady will kill you if you go by yourself?”

“No,” Ibuki replies flatly. “Sounds like you’re thinking a lot about it. Are _you_ scared?”

Seated between the two, Manabe and Minaho watch the exchange like it’s a tennis match. In unison, their gazes swivel back over to Matatagi to see his response.

Matatagi huffs. “No way.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

They’re only about two and a half hours into this sleepover and people are already fighting. ‘People’ meaning Matatagi. Tenma releases Tsurugi’s arm and leans forward to whine at them. “Guys! Knock it off! If you’re gonna argue about it, I’ll just go get the snacks.”

Matatagi and Ibuki both turn to look at him. A moment passes before Tenma begins to realize exactly what he’s just signed up for. He just volunteered to walk through Shindou’s giant, lonely, possibly-haunted mansion in the middle of the night. He freezes.

Tsurugi reaches out and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. “...You don’t have to.”

But he does have to. Tenma is the captain, he can’t go back on his word. Even if the prospect of walking through this giant dark mansion alone is giving him heart palpitations. 

“I’m going.” Tenma says, trying to sound confident. Shinsuke reluctantly lets go of Tenma’s arm. The two of them share a look together.

“Be careful, Tenma.” The reserve goalkeeper warns in a small voice as Tenma gets to his feet. Tenma nods down at him solemnly. 

As Tenma gets up from his seat in the circle and approaches Shindou’s bedroom door, he mentally prepares for whatever fate is about to befall him in the dark depths of the mansion. Everyone’s eyes feel like they’re about to burn a hole through the back of his pyjama shirt. He takes a few deep breaths and eyes the door handle. Tenma rationalizes with himself. Three months ago he was captain of Earth Eleven. He helped save the galaxy. He can totally do this. Besides, there’s no such thing as ghosts, right? The door handle is just an inch away. All he has to do is reach out and-

“Oh my god,” Matatagi groans, pushing himself upright, “How long are you gonna stand there? This is pathetic.” Matatagi stands, strides across the room, and throws the bedroom door open. 

“Don’t wake up my parents!” Shindou calls after them.

* * *

Matatagi has already lost his patience with this whole ‘ghost’ thing. Minaho and Sakura are both idiots, and so are the rest of them for believing that stupid story. Tenma’s obviously shaken up by it. Figures. He hangs close to Matatagi as they make their way down a dark hall with nothing but the light of Matatagi’s phone flashlight. 

“So, where’s the kitchen?” Matatagi asks. He’s literally only ever seen houses this big on TV. No wonder Shindou is such a spoiled brat. “Or, pantry, or whatever he called it? I don’t know rich people terminology.”

“I don’t really know,” Tenma frowns. “Shindou-san said it was downstairs.” 

Matatagi looks at him incredulously. “I thought you said you’ve been here before.”

“I have! It just looks so different in the dark!” Tenma whines. A gust of cold air hits them as they round a corner, and Matatagi startles as Tenma practically leaps into his arms. 

They two of them freeze and stare into the dark hall. Matatagi waits a moment, and then another, and nothing happens. Because ghosts aren’t real. He pushes Tenma off and dusts off the old t-shirt he’s wearing with a huff. 

“What are you acting so weird for?” Matatagi says, irritable. “It was just a stupid story. Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Aliens are real.” Tenma grumbles, still hanging close to his side “I don’t want to take any chances.”

“If you’re so scared, let’s just find a lightswitch.”

“We can’t do that,” Tenma protests as they continue to wander the halls aimlessly, looking for stairs, “Shindou said not to wake his parents up.”

“Then let’s just not turn one on near their bedroom, or whatever.”

Tenma is silent. Matatagi sighs.

“...So you don’t know where the master bedroom is, either. You have been useless so far.” 

“Sorry.”

Up ahead, there’s visible definition to the hallway beyond where the flashlight reaches. A light source. When the two of them round the next corner, they are met with the sight of an enormous staircase illuminated by moonlight streaming in through a high, arched window. 

There are no stars in the sky. There is nothing to see by but the light of the full moon. 

“It’s just a story,” Matatagi reminds him as they carefully descend the stairs. Tenma deserves a little sympathy, he supposes. This place is kind of unnerving in the dark.

“I know,” Tenma’s reply is shaky.

After they reach the bottom of the staircase, it doesn’t take long to find the kitchen. It’s certainly much easier than finding the stairs, mostly because it would be impossible to miss it. The Shindou Manor kitchen is huge, sprawling. There’s appliances in here Matatagi has never even heard of. All the surfaces are spotless, like they’ve been cleaned several times today.

“He’s an only child,” Matatagi is almost seething, “This kitchen is way too big. It’s just stupid to waste so much space on it at this point.” 

“More snacks for us, though.” Tenma says, cautiously optimistic as they start rifling through the pantry, which is more like an entire snack aisle at the grocery store. 

Growing up, Matatagi never had an endless supply of food like this. He and his brothers often went hungry, and he knows Tenma didn’t constantly eat like a king either. Whatever. He’s going to take advantage of this. Matatagi is going to eat Shindou out of house and home, if that’s even possible. 

“You think that’s enough?” Tenma asks as they step back to admire the mountain of snacks and candy they’ve managed to find. It’s going to be hard to carry all of this back. 

Matatagi nods in response, and scoops up half the heap. Tenma gets the other half, and they’re on their way back to Shindou’s room. Like Matatagi suspected, nothing of any sort of paranormal interest happened in the kitchen or on the way there. It’s just a house, if you can even call it that. It’s more like a cushy, wastefully extravagant labyrinth for the filthy rich. There is nothing to be afraid of.

And then he hears it.

_“Oooowwww.”_

“What? Did you say something?” Matatagi turns around to look at Tenma, but the captain is staring right back at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“Did you hear that?” Tenma whispers, almost too quietly to hear.

The sound comes again. It’s just on the edge of being human. A long, drawn out syllable.

_“Oooowwww.”_

The boys stare at each other for a split second. Then, by unspoken agreement, they bolt in the direction of the stairs.

It’s lucky that they’re the best sprinters on the team. Matatagi has never run this fast in his entire life. 

His flashlight waves wildly as he sprints, arms full of snacks, the sound of a pair of feet pounding behind him. He hopes it’s Tenma’s footsteps he’s hearing.

Matatagi’s panic is rising. He doesn’t know which room is Shindou’s. It all looks the same to him. 

Then, further down the hallway, a door opens. In the doorway, only faintly illuminated by phone flashlight, stands a familiar figure. It’s Morimura, peering into the darkness their way. Her eyes widen in alarm as she sees them sprint towards her, but Matatagi has no intention of slowing down. Right at the moment that she ducks to the floor, he leaps over her head and crashes with a roll inside the bedroom, spilling snacks everywhere. 

Tenma darts in behind him, yelling an apology to Morimura, and slams his hand on the wall. Apparently, despite not knowing the rest of the house’s layout, he knows exactly where the lightswitch is in Shindou’s room. Figures.

Light floods the room instantly. A collective groan sounds from the team as the players on the floor cover their eyes.

“What took you so long? Konoha was just about to go find you,” Tetsukado says, one of the first to speak. He’s still literally wearing nothing but his boxers as pyjamas. Matatagi really wishes he’d put some fucking clothes on. His fists are up in front of his face. “And can you turn the light off?”

“No!” Tenma objects instantly, and hurries back to his place in the circle. He tosses his half of the snacks to the middle and, the instant his hands are free and his ass is back on the floor, he latches back on to Tsurugi. “The ghost is here!”

“What?” Sakura gasps. She lifts the face mask from over her eyes. 

“It’s true!” Tenma insists, “I heard the noise! It sounded like this-” He does his best to replicate the haunting wail. 

Most of the circle does not look impressed. Shindou stifles a laugh with his hand over his mouth.

“I’m serious!”

Despite everyone else’s amused faces, Matatagi notices Sakura looks uncharacteristically pale. She nervously plays with the ends of her loose hair.

Matatagi chews on his lip. If he hadn’t heard the sound himself, he would be laughing right along with Shindou right now, and would probably be making fun of Sakura, too. But he’s not. Because he did hear it. 

“...I heard it too,” Matatagi confirms, dropping his haul into the pile. He throws a bag of chips at Ibuki’s face. Ibuki, of course, catches it easily. 

“I don’t believe it…” Sakura whispers. Nobody else in the room says anything as she turns to Matatagi slowly. “...I’ve never heard anything else that sounds like it. It must be her. She’s here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short first chapter, but it's only because we don't believe in filler and we'll be diving right in. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Shindou has never been one for ghost stories. He watches from his seat in the circle as everyone is talking overtop one another about theories and superstitions and claims that his house is haunted. 

The house isn’t haunted. 

At least, he’s pretty sure it’s not. 

The two people on either side of him don’t seem too interested in the subject matter, either. Tsurugi looks like he’s just kind of listening in to whatever Tenma is saying at a million miles per hour at Sakura, and Ibuki is just lying on his back tossing chips into his mouth. 

“There’s only one thing to do. We have to find the ghost before it finds us, like Sakura said.” Tenma says. He’s standing in the center of the circle now waving his arms above the pile of bags of chips and snacks. 

Lots of conversations break out in response. Shindou is about to protest. This seems like it's getting a little out of hand. But he stops when he feels someone lightly elbow him in the ribs. With a glance to his right he sees Ibuki is now sitting up. The white haired goalkeeper gives him a pointed glance.

Ohhh…. Shindou gets it now. 

Shindou clears his throat. “If you guys are going on a ghost hunt, Ibuki and I will stay here to watch everyone’s things.” He says. Tenma’s eyes turn to his and Shindou gives him a light shrug. “I’m not sure you’ll find anything, but, we can stay here just in case.”

Shindou is a bad liar. He always has been. He’s learned a while ago it's best to just tell the truth; just maybe not the whole truth. It works like a charm.

“You’d really do that?” Tenma asks.

Shindou nods and he glances at Ibuki as Tenma begins to organize their other friends who are showing different levels of enthusiasm. Ibuki - who is a good liar - betrays nothing as he nods pleasantly at Tenma. 

There’s a lot of conversations and words that Shindou pays no attention to as the other ex-members of Earth Eleven stand from the circle and chat about strategies as they start to make their way towards the door. Some look like they’re being dragged along, like Tetsukado and Manabe. Others - no, not ‘others’ - just Minaho, looks like this is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

“That’s so nice of you, Shindou-senpai.” Tsurugi says as he gets to his feet. The coy smile he gives Shindou is a knowing one. Fooling Tenma is one thing. Fooling Tsurugi is another. 

It’s okay. Tsurugi isn’t the only one who knows these kinds of secrets. “Have fun ghost hunting, Tsurugi.” Shindou says pleasantly. “Hopefully you and Tenma won’t get mysteriously locked in a room together.”

Tsurugi rolls his eyes and casually flips him off. 

It’s not long before the ghost hunting team has left Shindou’s bedroom. Ibuki gets up and takes care to close the door behind them.

Slowly, with his hand still on the doorknob, he turns around to face Shindou. A grin on his face.

“....So,” He says. “You come here often?”

Shindou snorts and gets to his feet before flopping down on his enormous king sized bed. “Depends. Do you?”

“Only on weekends.” Ibuki says with another smile as he leaves the door and makes his way to where Shindou sits on the edge of his bed. 

Shindou has never met anyone else who looks quite as good as Ibuki does in a simple white t-shirt and dark grey sweatpants. He’s wearing his signature black headband and his hair somehow looks great even though it's clear he hasn’t brushed it in at least a day. When he sits down beside Shindou, he wastes no time in pressing their lips together. 

Shindou kisses him back enthusiastically, moving his hands to rest on Ibuki’s shoulders and grip at the soft fabric there. It’s taken them a while to get to this point, and it’s not something they’ve really broadcasted to their friends yet. Some, like Tsurugi, have already figured them out. Others, like Tenma? Completely oblivious. Just as he’s about to sigh into the kiss and start to move himself up into Ibuki’s lap, he finds his boyfriend pulling away. Ibuki sits back and furrows his brow at something just beyond Shindou’s shoulder.

Shindou isn’t impressed. He raises an eyebrow. “What?” 

“Your cat, dude. She’s like. Watching us.” Ibuki says, and points. Shindou follows his finger and turns to look at where Aria is sitting atop the baby grand piano, her fluffy white tail swishing over the dark wood surface. She meows.

“No she’s not.” Shindou says, turning back to Ibuki to tug the sleeve of his t-shirt. “Come on. Kiss me.”

Ibuki is still staring past him at Aria. “No way. I am not making out with you in front of your cat.”

Shindou huffs and falls back onto the bed. “You’re no fun.”

“Put the stupid cat in the hallway and you’ll find out how fun I am.”

Shindou sits up. “I can’t do that to her!” He hops off the bed and scoops Aria up into his arms, pressing his face into her soft fur. “Aria, don’t listen to him.”

Ibuki groans. Now it’s his turn to fall back onto the bed covers. “Can we go somewhere else, then? Seriously.”

Shindou pauses a moment, thoughtful. It’s true that he’s not going to banish his baby to the outside world. But he’s also got an agenda of his own tonight. Gently, Shindou places Aria back onto the surface of the piano where she rolls over and wiggles for him to pet her belly. 

Where could he and Ibuki go to be alone, that's not his bedroom? The mansion is practically crawling with butlers and maids, even at this hour. The library? No, too wide open. The study on the first floor? Too high-profile. So, where? Then, suddenly, he has an idea.

Shindou turns to Ibuki, a smile crossing his lips. “You know, I think I just might know a place…”

* * *

Her friends seem nervous, on edge, unsure of themselves, the way Konoha usually feels. But truth be told, she’s rather comfortable right now, surrounded by nine of her closest friends. Ghosts don’t scare her that badly. 

She can barely see in the darkness of the hallway, despite the several phone flashlights cutting through it. 

She takes a step forward to let the rest of the ghost-hunting team pile out of Shindou’s bedroom, and her foot lands on something with a crunch. Konoha leans down and picks up the source of it - an abandoned bag of pretzels. She sweeps her phone flashlight forward to reveal several more bags, the plastic reflecting light back at her. She figures that this is most likely the end of a trail of dropped snacks.

The door to Shindou’s room closes behind the group with a click.

“Woah…” Konoha looks up at Kusaka, who’s standing beside her. He has also taken notice of the mess on the floor. He crouches down to inspect a bag of chips, mesmerized. “How did this get here?”

Konoha adores her boyfriend, but he’s not the brightest.

Tetsukado and Sakura snicker as Manabe lets out a sigh. Everyone’s fear is momentarily forgotten in the face of Kusaka’s obliviousness.

“Are you dumb?” Matatagi asks, but before Kusaka can get mad at him, Tsurugi gently interjects.

“Tenma and Matatagi dropped them on the way into Shindou’s room.” He says.

Konaha pats the side of Kusaka’s leg as he stands back up. She smiles at Tsurugi. Out of all of the ex-members of Earth Eleven, Tsurugi might be the nicest boy on the team. Maybe even nicer than the captain. Konaha has come to appreciate him very much.

“No time to worry about that,” Tenma says, tapping his foot nervously on the floor. He looks distracted. “We need a plan.”

Sakura turns to him, refocused on the mission. “Captain, do you know where the sound was coming from? Let’s start with that.”

Tenma looks like he needs a moment to think about it. Konoha can sympathize. When you’re scared, it’s hard to remember little details. She wishes she could somehow get Tenma to understand ghosts are nothing to be afraid of, but she’s not sure her words will do anything either way, so she stays quiet.

“I think it was that way,” Tenma guesses, pointing down the hall with the hand he’s not using to hold Tsurugi’s. “Once we’re on the ground floor, I might have a better idea.”

As a group, they start to move. Their progress is marked by the sound of plastic crunching under bare feet. Konoha flinches every time, and she’s not even particularly worried about the paranormal. 

“Should we really be going after the ghost?” Manabe speaks up as they walk. “Shouldn’t we hide from it instead of looking for confrontation?” He sounds calm, rational. But with a glance back at him, Konoha can’t see his eyes behind the shine of his glasses to know if that’s true.

“Yeah, go hide from it if you want to die!” Sakura retorts, flipping her long pink hair, free of its usual tight bun. “Like I said earlier - if you find her first, you’ll be safe. That’s how the legend works.”

Another crunching sound joins the cacophony caused by their feet. Kusaka has opened the bag of chips he picked up and is now eating them. He offers one to Konoha and she takes it with a smile.

Yeah, Tsurugi might be the nicest boy on the team, but Kusaka is her favorite. 

Manabe seems to be still unconvinced. He walks at the back of the group next to Minaho, just behind Konoha. “How do we even know it’s the same ghost?” 

Sakura pauses with a sigh. “There’s no way to be sure,” She says. “I just have this feeling.”

“I trust Sakura!” Tenma adds. Konoha has to admit, it’s hard to argue with the captain.

From the front of the group next to Tenma comes a small whimper. “...I’m scared.” Shinsuke says quietly.

There’s a feeling of silent agreement. 

“Don’t worry,” Kusaka whispers to her as they round a corner, “I’ll protect you.”

Konoha finds his hand and squeezes it. She looks up at him. “Thank you,” she says. “But it’s going to be alright. Ghosts aren’t scary.”

Kusaka smiles down at her. She finds it hard to focus on how nice his smile is when he’s wearing the tightest low-cut tank top in the world.

A draft of cool air envelopes them as they approach the staircase. It nearly sends a shiver up Konoha’s spine. She reminds herself that it’s just wind. It can’t hurt her, or make her feel bad about herself. In stories, ghosts are always just very sad people. She only feels sorry for them.

“Man,” Tetsukado shudders, rubbing his arms. “Shindou’s house sure is cold, huh?”

“Maybe that’s because you’re not wearing any clothes,” Manabe snaps back at him, clutching tightly to the handrail as they descend the staircase.

“This is perfectly normal!” Tetsukado defends himself. His voice lowers into a mutter. “Besides, I always get too hot at night.” It’s probably a good reason, but Konoha can’t relate. She brought her cutest onesie to keep her warm. It has little foxes all over it.

“You could always wear something lightweight,” Shinsuke suggests, his voice kept very quiet in caution.

“Oh, so is that why you sleep in your old defender uniform?”

“Wait,” Minaho holds out a hand to quiet them and stops walking, mere steps away from the lower floor. Everyone halts and turns to look at him. He’s grinning excitedly, a stark contrast to the trepidation present in everyone else’s expressions. “Stay quiet for a second.”

Everyone waits in silence for a moment. Konoha holds her breath in anticipation. 

A minute passes. And then -

_ “Ooowwww.”  _

Suddenly, everyone is standing much more closely together. 

“There’s the sound!” Tenma nearly wails, burying his face in the red fabric on Tsurugi’s shoulder. Tsurugi brings his free hand up comfortingly to Tenma’s back. It’s too dark to know for sure, but Konoha swears she can see a light blush dusting his cheeks.

“It’s coming from up there,” Sakura says as she indicates the direction - upwards. Her voice is trembling. 

The group exchanges glances, and with a new sense of foreboding, reverses back up the stairs. Their footfalls have become even softer, even quieter.

Something about that noise is familiar to Konoha. Sakura said there was no other sound like it, but Konoha can swear she’s heard it before. She puzzles over it for a moment, dropping to the back of the group as her footsteps slow. 

* * *

They’ve made it through the floor, and now a second staircase looms in front of them, ascending into pitch blackness. 

“...Do we really have to go up there?” Shinsuke whimpers. “Guys, I’m scared.”

Truth be told, Tsurugi is kind of having trouble paying attention to all of this. The faint echoes of the inhuman wailing reverberating down to them are doing little to jolt him out of his thoughts. He feels Tenma clutch his hand even more tightly. Tsurugi is surprised he can still feel his fingers at this point. 

He’d never admit it out loud, but Tsurugi is still thinking about what Shindou said to him right before they left the room. He probably meant it as some sort of jab in response to his own comment, but now, with Tenma clutching his hand like this…

Tsurugi just hopes Tenma doesn’t notice how sweaty his hands are becoming. If he does, Tsurugi can always just blame it on being scared of the ghost.

It’ll be a lie, of course.

It’s not long before they’re climbing the staircase. Minaho at the front, Tsurugi and Tenma following closely behind with Shinsuke hanging just a hair behind the captain. At Tsurugi’s back are Manabe, Sakura, and Tetsukado, with Matatagi behind them. Kusaka and Konoha are kind of dragging behind, Tsurugi supposes, but he doesn’t blame them.

The expensive wooden panels of the third floor creak gently under their feet.

Then, they hear it again. Much louder than ever before.

_ “Oooowwww.” _

It’s clear that the sound is coming from a room at the end of the hallway. All of their flashlights are pointed at the door now, some of the beams wavering as the hands that hold them tremble.

Instinctively, the team seems to slow as they get closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Tsurugi can see Sakura slow her step, like she’s second guessing their decision. 

Minaho, on the other hand, quickens his pace. “Hurry up,” he tells them in a whisper. “This is going to be great. Aren’t you excited?”

Nobody responds. The shallow, shaky breaths Tenma is taking beside him are audible and Tsurugi feels him shift closer, the sleeves of the captain’s baby blue Earth Eleven pyjama sweatshirt brushing his arms. Whatever warm, fluttery feelings he was experiencing earlier have been replaced by an odd sense of dread. The third floor is even darker than the second, which isn’t something that should phase him, but Tsurugi feels a cold shiver down his back. Minaho, who is incapable of reading the room, forges onward enthusiastically.

“Come on, I want to see it!” Minaho says, nearly bouncing up and down. The grippies on the feet of his orange footie pyjamas are making a hushed squeaking sound on the soft wood flooring. At least someone’s happy.

Tsurugi hears Manabe’s sigh from behind him. “Please shut up.” 

They’re at the door now. Dread wells up in Tsurugi’s stomach. Whatever is making that noise, paranormal or not, it can’t be good. 

But there’s no time to second-guess the decision to confront whatever is waiting for them behind that door, because Minaho is already wrenching it open.

A formless gray shape streaks out of the dark room, small and close to the ground. Tsurugi inhales sharply, and several gasps sound from behind him as well.

It's a cat. A small, black and white cat that instantly trots up to Matatagi and brushes up against his legs affectionately. 

They all stare for a moment.

Then it meows.

_ “Oooowww.” _

No way. Tsurugi instantly looks at Tenma, who stares back at him with wide eyes.

Outside, thunder crashes and a flash of lightning suddenly illuminates the room through one of the big windows. The group jumps, their overworked nerves sending them practically through the roof at the loud noise. Tsurugi presses his free hand to his chest and sighs as he’s just barely evaded a heart attack. The familiar pitter patter of rain against glass begins not long after.

“Ugh! See, it’s just been the cat, this whole time.” Manabe says exasperatedly, gesturing to the animal that winds itself around the legs of a very uncomfortable Matatagi. The defender pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose back to where they were resting just before he jumped at the thunder. “Will you guys drop it now?”

“Four-eyes is right. There’s no ghost,” Matatagi scowls down at the tiny soft animal bumping its head against his shins. “There never was a ghost, and there will never be a ghost.” 

His statement is punctuated by another crash of thunder. Everyone flinches, instinctively turning to the window. Tsurugi has an excellent view of the garden from their high angle, but the shapes are indistinct and threatening. A moment later, the lightning comes.

And down in the garden, silhouetted against the lightning strike, stands a lone figure. 

Tsurugi’s blood turns to ice. Sakura screams. 

Shinsuke rounds on Manabe and Matatagi as he backs up into Tenma’s legs. “So there’s no ghost, huh? Then what is  _ that?! _ ” He yells, pointing hysterically out the window. Tsurugi thinks he can see the shine of tears in his eyes, and - yeah. Shinsuke is crying. Poor guy.

From the start, Tsurugi had little to no concern about the ghost. All of the anxiety he felt had been due to Tenma’s infectious nerves, but now there is real proof. Indisputable proof he’s seen  _ something _ with his own eyes. Something solid to fear. 

The next time lightning flashes, the figure is gone. 

“Oh my god,” Tetsukado gasps. He scoops up the cat from the ground and holds it out for them all to look at. “What if the noise we heard...was the ghost  _ pretending _ to be the cat?!”

The cat squirms in his hands. When he puts it down, it goes straight back to Matatagi.

“That’s a possibility, but unlikely.” Minaho says, arms crossed. Despite everything, his voice has still not wavered, even though he is looking just a tad bit uncharacteristically pale. “I’m beginning to think we may be dealing with a different kind of ghost. There’s something going on here, and we need to find out what. Fast.”

“Um… guys?”

Tsurugi tears his gaze from Minaho to Sakura, who is looking around with a sense of urgency. Tsurugi notices it even before she says it in a trembling, quiet voice.

“Where are Konoha and Kusaka?”

Tsurugi had just assumed that their missing friends were behind them this whole time. He curses himself silently. He should’ve known the instant the cat came out of the room. If Konoha were here, she would be petting it already. Where are they?

“The - the ghost must have gotten them!” Tetsukado is shining his flashlight wildly about the hallway in a frantic search. “It took them while we were distracted!” 

Everyone stares at each other in horror. The hallway is silent except for the drumming of the rain and the purring of the cat. 

“Let’s - uh, let’s think about this for a second,” Manabe starts. He’s much calmer than most of the people here, but it's obvious he’s shaken in the way he’s gripping at the sleeves of his collared pink pyjama shirt. “I think we need to split up. That way-”

“No!” Tenma objects. His hand, still holding Tsurugi’s, tightens as he speaks. “We just lost two people! That’s more than should have ever happened. We need to stick together.”

Minaho puts his hand up to his chin. “I actually like Manabe-kun’s idea. What if we just check in with the Inazuma Link chat every fifteen minutes? That way you’ll know where everyone is, and if someone doesn’t answer we can all meet back up immediately?”

Tenma considers this. He glances up at Tsurugi for some kind of direction. He gives Tenma a single, tight nod. It’s not a bad idea. Tsurugi is about to voice his approval when Tenma holds his gaze for a moment more in a way that makes Tsurugi’s mouth run dry. The captain turns back to Minaho and nods hesitantly.

“Someone needs to look for Kusaka-kun and Konoha-kun,” Minaho continues, “But we also need to find the ghost. Before it finds us.”

“Are we sure about that?” Manabe questions him sourly. Tsurugi knows that Manabe isn’t the most expressive of people, but the way his eyebrows are scrunched together suggests he’s on the way to losing his composure. “How do we know it’s the same ghost? Like you said, this could be something completely different than what we thought. We might be wasting time looking for it.”

“That’s a good point, Manabe-kun.” Minaho concedes, “But we need to be sure. We’ll go to the library to see if we can find any information about the house’s history.”

“Wait,” Tetsukado says, “There’s a library here?”

“Of course there is,” Minaho answers, puzzled, “Didn’t you look for it when we walked in?”

Tetsukado’s expression tells Tsurugi he didn’t, in fact, look for Shindou’s library when they walked in. Then again, neither did Tsurugi. Or probably anyone else on the team. 

Speaking of Shindou, aren’t he and Ibuki alone on the second floor? Tsurugi bites his lip as the memory of the silhouette flashes through his brain. Maybe there  _ is _ something paranormal going on here. Stranger things have happened, right? Tsurugi has been to alien cities on alien planets, but he’s no strategist. They need a gamemaker here. Tsurugi would be more comfortable with Shindou’s input on this. 

“Well, I’m going to find Konoha and Kusaka.” Sakura says, her voice firm. She turns and looks off down the hallway with a worried expression. “Maybe it’s my fault they’re gone. If I just hadn’t told my stupid story…”

“It’s not your fault,” Tetsukado reassures her immediately. He closes his hands into fists at his sides. “The ghost would still be here whether you talked about it or not. I’ll come with you.”

“You will?”

“Yeah. If we run into the ghost I’ll just, um, punch it.” 

“Tenma, Shinsuke, Matatagi, and I will go back to Shindou’s room to get him and Ibuki.” Tsurugi says, finally regaining his voice. “After everyone’s accounted for and we know what we’re up against, we can meet up and come up with a plan.”

“Okay.” Tenma nods to him, face newly determined. The brave smile that crosses the captain’s lips sends a flutter through Tsurugi’s chest. “Then it’s settled. Keep your phones on you, and remember to text the Link chat. And, Oh!” Tenma turns to look at the little animal sitting by Matatagi’s feet. “Matatagi, bring the cat.”

“What?” Matatagi sputters, “There’s a ghost on the loose, our friends are missing, and you want me to bring the cat?” 

“He likes you.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” 

Manabe speaks up, always the voice of reason. “If he meows again, you’ll know it’s not the ghost.”

Matatagi rolls his eyes, clearly unhappy, but picks up the cat anyway. Its tail swishes happily and it rubs its face against his. “You’re annoying.” He tells it. 

Then, breaking off into teams, the group splits to go their separate ways.

Tetsukado and Sakura, on a blind hunt for Konoha and Kusaka, praying to find them safe.

Tenma, Tsurugi, Shinsuke, and Matatagi with a purring ball of fur in his arms, going back to Shindou’s room to collect their game maker and goalkeeper.

And finally, Manabe and Minaho, heading for the library in search of anything, any sort of clue. Any sliver of information to get them just one step ahead of whatever is lurking in the depths of Shindou Manor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tetsukado: boy shindou's house sure is cold ahahaha  
> manabe: maybe thats because you are fucking naked


	3. Chapter 3

“We’re going to crack this case in no time.”

Minaho pads across the dark mansion foyer as he enthusiastically turns back to walk backwards and speak to Manabe at the same time, who he notes is looking quite tired. “This is nothing Sherlock and Watson can’t handle.”

“For the last time,” Manabe groans, rubbing his temple. “Stop calling me Watson. I’m not going to roleplay with you.”

“Boo!” Minaho sticks his tongue out at him before turning back around to face the large open archway at the end of the tall foyer that leads into the grandiose library on the first floor.

The library is everything Minaho thinks a library should be in a house of this size. The crisp scent of books and parchment floods his senses almost immediately and he runs his hand along the spines of countless tomes as the pair makes their way inside. It wasn’t hard to find the library again, even though he only saw it once. Here, in the darkness, looking for any sort of book about the history of this area or this enormous house, he feels like a proper detective. 

Manabe is searching now, too, his phone flashlight illuminating the entire length of the tall shelf he’s poking around in. Besides the multiple shelves and walls of books of all sizes, shapes, and colors, the library itself is furnished with a cozy sort of feel that makes Minaho want to sink into one of those cushy dark couches to read for the rest of the night. There is quite a bit of illumination from the full moon due to the large, clear windows that are placed dramatically at the center of the main wall. It’s surprising, considering the storm clouds outside.

Every few minutes, Minaho finds himself looking out those windows into the night. The consistency of the raindrops against the window suggest more lightning may be in their future.

“I think I found something.” Comes Manabe’s voice from where he’s now crouching to see some tomes at the bottom of one of the tall, dark wooden shelves. He tugs one out carefully. From what Minaho can see from where he’s standing, the book doesn’t appear to be that old or that worn. It’s only _nearly_ in pristine condition, but its placement on the shelf suggests it’s been there untouched for quite awhile.

Minaho’s hands curl around the book under his palm that he’s been eyeing since they walked in. It’s a town history of sorts, the type of book he can immediately tell is likely to contain information about any sort of interesting, spooky town activity. He’s had it under his palm for several minutes now. Truth be told, he was only waiting for Manabe to find one, too.

Minaho follows Manabe to where he’s set his tome on the wide window sill at the center of the main library wall. He sets his down beside the mathematician’s. “I’m not surprised this family has a book about the home itself. It’s easy to see the parents are the type just by looking around.”

Manabe is already flipping through it. “It looks like it’s just for the sake of bookkeeping and running numbers, though.” He reports. “In any case, it says here that the mansion was commissioned to be built by the Shindou family themselves, so it's very doubtful there have been any deaths here.”

“A death may not be necessary. Remember, we still don’t know if it’s the same sort of ghost.” Minaho reminds him as he flips his own book open.

“You know, you keep saying that, but I’m starting to be convinced you don’t actually think there’s a ghost at all.”

Oh. That causes a small smile to cross Minaho’s lips. His ears twitch.

“What makes you say that, Manabe-kun?”

Manabe just gives him one of his famous side-eyes as he turns a page in his book. “You’d want to locate it yourself. Leaving Tenma and them to go find it isn’t your style, which means you don’t think there’s any paranormal activity. Unless, of course, you _do_ think there is a ghost and just don’t think they would be able to find it anyway.”

“Could be either.” Minaho shrugs. “Truthfully, I’m still deciding if there’s enough evidence for either scenario. After some thought I’ve decided It’s very likely the silhouette in the garden outside was just a house employee.”

“What about Kusaka and Konoha, then?”

“It’s possible they just ran away to kiss.”

“Gross!”

“There’s still the ghost possibility, too, of course. Which is more fun.”

Manabe sighs and shakes his head before looking back down at his book with his phone flashlight over the pages. He stops suddenly and looks back up. “Hey also - what’s going on with Sakura and Tetsukado? Are they a thing?”

Minaho grins. “I was hoping you’d notice it, too. Sakura has been checking him out for hours now. Not that it has nothing to do with how Tetsukado is dressed, though. They’re not really a _thing_. Sakura likes guys with muscles.” 

The two books remain open in front of them, abandoned in favor of gossip - one of Minaho’s many favorite pastimes. 

“Do you think something happened right after we won the tournament in space, perhaps?”

“Right again, Manabe-kun! I’ve been speculating about that as well.” Minaho nods enthusiastically. He closes the book, which expels a puff of dust. “See? You’re already a fantastic Watson. A Space Watson!"

Manabe gives him a warning look over his glasses, but doesn’t respond to the nickname. Instead, he closes his book too and sighs, staring out the window into the dark sky. “Space. Is it strange that I almost miss it?”

Minaho puts his elbows on the book in front of him and gazes out the window as well. He’s tempted to give Manabe a lesson on the topic of ‘rosy retrospection’ but he surprises himself when he doesn’t. “Not really. I miss it too.”

“You do?”

Minaho only glances at him and nods. 

Manabe continues. “I’ve just been thinking about it. I mean, we’ve seen more of the universe than ninety-nine point nine percent of the population, and that’s being generous. I’d go into more detail, but the actual math might bore you.” He says. The pink haired boy raises a hand to his cheek to rest his face on it. “I think I’m going to have, like, Black Room nightmares for the rest of my life.”

“But it was worth it.” Minaho grins at him, holding a finger up to the sky outside where the moon is still shining bright amongst the clouds.

Manabe gives him a rare soft smile in return. “Yeah. We saved the galaxy. Us.”

“And the moon, and we learned a whole lot about soccer!”

Manabe snorts. “We did.”

Minaho smiles at him. “I’m glad I met you.”

Manabe’s instant embarrassed blush is predictable, and so is the way that he huffs and fixes his glasses before he says, “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

They both fall quiet as they stare out into the darkness side by side, the rain falling softly onto the glass with an ambient noise that makes Minaho shiver. He considers himself lucky. Before Earth Eleven, Minaho was somebody else.

Manabe was somebody else, too. They were both other people entirely. 

He knows this for a fact. He knows it for the obvious reasons, like his expert reads and detailed eye, but it’s also apparent because he’s never had a friendship like this. 

Minaho has never had luck with friends, or even any need for them. Other kids his age often find him insulting, direct, unemotional. He’s been to the corners of the galaxy and back, and he’s still all those things, but he’s gained something important along the way. He’s gained these amazing, incredible friendships with eleven of the most wondrous people he’s ever met. It’s the kind of friendship that can cross universes. The kind of friendship that transcends lifetimes.

And not only that, but he’s gained something precious. A best friend.

The silence is cut by Manabe’s response. The one that Minaho knows is coming. 

“I’m glad I met you, too.”

* * *

_“Ooowww”_

“Ah.” Shindou sighs. “It sounds like Lute got stuck in the attic again.”

Ibuki blinks at him as they continue walking through the house. That sound came from Shindou’s other cat, all the way up in the attic? Something about that doesn’t seem right, but then again, Ibuki hasn’t been here enough to know everything about the acoustics of each little corner of Shindou’s enormous mansion.

The mansion, with its white pristine interior, looks very different in the dark. He doesn’t usually see it during this time of day. The most he really has ever seen when all the lights are out is the hallway between his guest room and Shindou’s room.

Yeah. _His_ guest room. There are enough guest rooms in this place for his whole basketball team _and_ Earth Eleven. 

Shindou doesn’t bother to turn on any lights as they make their way through a bunch of nearly identical halls and corridors that the playmaker knows like the back of his hand. Ibuki follows him closely, down a flight of steps in the back corner of the house that Ibuki hasn’t had the luxury to explore yet.

It’s not like Ibuki’s family is financially struggling by any means, but when Shindou mentioned to him back on the Galaxy Nauts Go that his family was wealthy, Ibuki didn’t think much of it. In retrospect, he definitely should have, and maybe saved himself from Shindou’s teasing laughter when his jaw hit the ground the first time his parents dropped him off for a weekend.

Shindou. This is definitely the only kind of house someone like him can grow up in.

“So… Where are we going again?”

“The wine cellar.” Shindou explains simply. His hair bounces gently as he walks. “No cats down there, I promise. Or maids.”

Ibuki raises an eyebrow. Maids? They haven’t even seen one maid this entire time. The hallway they’re in is completely vacant, just like the hallway before it. And the hallway before that. Ibuki stops in his tracks and grabs onto the soft fabric of Shindou’s pyjama sleeve. 

“We’ve been walking for like ten minutes.” He whines. “Come on! Here is as good a place as any.”

Shindou doesn’t look impressed when he stops walking and turns back to observe Ibuki. Despite the look on his face, Ibuki knows he’s got his interest. If he didn’t, Shindou wouldn’t have even looked back at him. “Um, hello? If my parents find out I’m sneaking around at night to make out in the hallways I’m going to be chained to my room like a dog.”

“No, you won’t.” Ibuki scoffs with a grin. “Who will find out? Nobody’s even here.”

“There’s butlers everywhere, just because you don’t see them right now doesn’t mean they won’t come around the corner at any time.”

“Isn’t that something you should have told that ghost hunting band of lunatics?”

Shindou shrugs. “They’ll find out.”

Ibuki’s hands find Shindou’s hips and start to gently pull him closer. “Come on. One kiss.”

Shindou is avoiding his gaze and biting the inside of his cheek, but he’s not pulling away. Score. It’s one of his tells that he’s about to give in. All Ibuki has to do is wait for - there it is - for Shindou to glance up at him with those eyes. Ibuki grins victoriously.

“...Okay, one kiss.” Shindou says. His voice is stern, but his eyes are playful and he pulls one of Ibuki’s hands off of his hips to intertwine their fingers together. His hands are smooth and cold under Ibuki’s. It’s a sharp contrast to his own warm, calloused palms and Ibuki brings his other hand up to Shindou’s cheek.

“One kiss.” He agrees, and leans in. 

The kiss is soft, and there’s literally nothing on this earth that Ibuki wouldn’t do for one more when they come apart. But he won’t press for another. Not yet, anyway.

Shindou’s little smile that he gives Ibuki when he turns away to keep walking melts him. He thinks simply kissing Shindou will be enough for him for the rest of his life. Kissing. It’s taken them so long to get to this point. Every part of the journey has been worth it. 

For a long time it was just glances, quiet late night spaceship-confined conversations, a hand brushing the other’s when nobody was around to see. From the tension, the loaded moments, the shared traumas. Those soft, amused eyes Shindou gives him that make his heart beat out of his chest.

Yeah. He’s got it bad.

They must be getting close by now. They’ve been walking for a few minutes. Ibuki subconsciously rubs his arm as he walks beside Shindou, surprised to find his skin riddled with goosebumps. His skin is uncharacteristically cold to the touch, too. He’d been too lost in thought to notice the dropping temperature. He shivers.

“It’s always a bit cold by the wine cellar.” Shindou says, because of course he noticed Ibuki’s reaction to the sudden cool air. “It’s right underneath the kitchen freezer on purpose.”

The kitchen freezer - something Shindou says like it’s the most normal thing in the world. The ‘freezer’ is basically a walk-in meat locker upstairs. Just rich people things, right?

“This is more than _‘a bit’_ cold.” Ibuki responds, clutching his arms across his chest protectively. “It feels like someone’s holding an ice cube to my neck. You’re literally wearing shorts. Aren’t you, I don’t know, uncomfortable?”

Shindou raises an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me those idiots have you believing my house is haunted, too.” 

“Of course not!”

“We’re here.”

Ibuki looks up from where he’s multitasking in walking and speaking to Shindou to see a large wooden door. It’s kind of foreboding with just the light from their phone flashlights illuminating it, but Shindou wastes no time placing his hand on the enormous handle. 

He shoots Ibuki a grin that makes his face heat up despite the temperature. “I’m telling you. Nobody ever comes down here.”

Shindou opens the door with a flourish, clearly pleased with himself. Ibuki shines his flashlight in doubtfully, cutting the thick darkness. 

The light reveals a huge, hulking figure on the side of the room, lurking in front of one of the shelves.

Ibuki drops his phone.

The clatter created by the object hitting the floor catches the attention of whatever is inside the cellar. Its head turns menacingly towards them, and -

It’s Kusaka. Konoha is sitting on top of the shelf in front of him with her hands on his shoulders, face bright red as her eyes land on Ibuki and Shindou. Clearly, they’ve interrupted something. 

The four of them stare at each other for a moment.

“Uh,” Ibuki stoops down to scoop up his phone. “We’re just gonna….go.”

Shindou points his flashlight away from them and slowly swings the door shut. 

“Nobody, huh?” Ibuki asks.

Shindou just glares at him. “Shut up. I have a backup plan. Let’s go.”

* * *

Tetsukado feels like he and Sakura have been walking for forever. There’s been no indication that Kusaka or Konoha are still in the building so far, much less any other sign of life. He’s holding Sakura’s phone up to shine the flashlight into the darkness when the screen lights up in his hand.

> **_Inazuma Link - Galaxy Nuts Chat_ **
> 
> **_11:45 PM From: soyokazestep:_ ** _hi everyone! check in please :)_

Tetsukado types out his response on Sakura’s phone. It’s not his fault he left his back in Shindou’s room. He doesn’t have any pockets.

> **_BalanceBeamBabe_ ** _: this is tetsukado. me and sakura r fine_

> **_soyokazestep:_ ** _where are u guys????_

Tetsukado looks up from the phone. The hallway they’re in looks exactly the same as every other hallway they’ve walked through so far.

> **_BalanceBeamBabe_ ** _: idk_

“Hey, there’s some sounds coming from over there, I think!” Sakura puts her hand on his bare shoulder and nudges him in the direction she’s indicating. Tetsukado stands still for a moment and strains his ears.

There is a noise. It’s barely audible, but a faint knocking sound can be heard. There’s another sound too, muffled. A voice, maybe?

“Do you think it’s them?” Tetsukado asks her in a low tone. 

Sakura nods uncertainly. “It’s them or...it’s the ghost.”

Tetsukado holds her gaze for a minute. There’s apprehension in her blue eyes. He's sure she can see the same unease in his own face. Tetsukado swallows dryly. 

Then he tilts the flashlight forward, and they start walking together.

Moving towards creepy sounds in the dead of night is not something that Tetsukado makes a habit of regularly. He feels a cold sweat down his back, a nervous anticipation. He sticks close to Sakura.

The indistinct murmurs are behind a closed door. This situation is too close to the cat incident for Tetsukado’s tastes. 

He prays that it's Kusaka and Konoha, safe and sound. 

Exchanging a glance with Sakura, Tetsukado slowly turns the doorknob. The metal is ice cold in his hand. The door eases open.

The inside of the room is as dark as the hallway, and as far as he can tell, empty. There’s nothing inside but the soft carpets and sparse furniture reminiscent of a high-end guest bedroom.

“There’s nothing here,” he whispers to Sakura. She shakes her head and points at the wall.

No, not at the wall. At a set of doors inside the room. The closet.

“Whatever it is, it’s in there.” She whispers. Her voice is shaky.

“It? Do you think it’s not them?”

She doesn’t answer him, but instead their eyes meet. The look of scared uncertainty in Sakura’s eyes turns his blood to ice.

The closet door rattles slightly, like something has thumped against it from the inside. Definitely the ghost, Tetsukado thinks. His friends couldn’t create such a skin-crawling scenario by accident, and Konoha would never do it on purpose. It’s definitely the ghost.

If they find it first, they’ll be safe. 

He repeats the line again mentally: _If they find it first, they’ll be safe._

He doesn’t want to open the closet, but there’s no choice. His heart is going to beat right out of his chest, but Tetsukado reminds himself he has Sakura with him. If she survived a night with this kind of ghost once, she can definitely do it again. Her presence is reassuring, if only slightly.

They creep into the room and come to a stop at arms-length in front of the closet. It’s Sakura’s turn to open the door and she reaches for it hesitantly. Tetsukado watches from just behind her shoulder, his breath shallow with anticipation. 

Then, in one swift motion, she flings it open and jumps back, clearly hoping to catch the ghost off guard.

There’s an unmistakably human yelp. Two bodies fall out and land on the floor in a sprawling heap of limbs with a thud.

It wasn’t the ghost in the closet. But it wasn’t Kusaka and Konoha, either. 

A familiar long-suffering groan emanates from the two figures tangled up on the floor. A shock of white hair lifts up, and Ibuki is glaring at them. 

This is not what Tetsukado expected.

“Get off, you’re crushing me.” Shindou winces, pushing at Ibuki’s chest. Ibuki doesn’t even budge to rearrange his long, haphazard limbs, continuing to give Tetsukado and Sakura a look that clearly reads _‘get out’._

“Sorry.” Sakura squeaks, and snags Tetsukado’s hand to pull him out of the room. He allows her to drag him out in something of a daze. “We were just leaving.”

The door swings shut behind them. Sakura quickly lets go of his hand and he falls back against the wood in shock. He needs a minute to process what he just saw. Sakura looks like she does, too. Her face is bright red.

Tetsukado blinks.

He knew Ibuki and Shindou were close, but...

“Were they...kissing in there?” Tetsukado asks aloud. 

“I think so,” Sakura replies, fidgeting with her nightgown. “Crazy, right? I mean, kissing at a sleepover?”

“So weird.” Tetsukado agrees.

“Yeah, I’ve never thought about that. Like, kissing? Really?”

They stare at each other in silence for a moment. Tetsukado’s skin suddenly feels hot even though he’s still wearing nothing but his boxers. Sakura has a funny look on her face, one Tetsukado has never seen before. He wets his lips subconsciously.

“Wouldn’t it be crazy if,” Tetsukado coughs. “If, like, uh, if we did that?”

“Yeah. Crazy.” Sakura answers distractedly. 

She’s still red as a tomato. Tetsukado can feel his own face heating up as well. He laughs nervously, and looks away from her.

“We should, uh, we should keep looking.”

* * *

“They’re not here.” Tsurugi says.

Tenma lets go of his hand for the first time since they initially left Shindou’s bedroom. The brown haired boy tears inside, looking around wildly in vain. Tsurugi stands in the doorway, Matatagi beside him as Shinsuke follows Tenma into the room.

Finding Shindou’s room again in the dark wasn’t hard - Tsurugi has been here plenty of times. The snack trail that leads directly to the bedroom door didn’t hurt their chances either.

But the room is empty save for a small white cat that mews at them from the piano. His senpai isn’t here, and neither is Ibuki. 

“Should we text the Link chat?” Shinsuke asks. His small voice is heavy with fear and concern. Tenma shakes his head at him.

“They probably just went down to the kitchen to eat something.” Tenma says. His voice is wavering, like he’s trying to convince himself more-so than simply answering Shinsuke. “I don’t want to alarm everyone if we don’t have to.”

“I’ll text Shindou-senpai directly and ask.” Tsurugi tells him. He pulls his phone from his pocket and doesn’t let the worry creep into his voice. He’s still not convinced there’s any sort of paranormal activity going on here, but that doesn’t mean there’s not any danger. Ever since they saw the figure from the window upstairs, Tsurugi hasn’t been able to shake this odd feeling that something is about to go terribly wrong.

“Let me know when he responds.” Tenma says as he returns to his side. “Can you text Ibuki, too?”

“They’re probably together.”

“How do you know?”

“Just a feeling.” Tsurugi replies with a soft smile as Tenma takes his hand again in a solid, sure grasp.

He and Tenma have held hands before, yes, but this is different. The other times have been more gentle, more suggestive that their relationship could easily become something more with the right push. Now, Tenma holds his hand with the unspoken promise that he’s not letting go.

But Tsurugi isn’t stupid. He knows why. Even though Tenma doesn’t say it, and no one else seems to notice. It’s Tenma’s eyes that give him away. Those glances he keeps giving Tsurugi that look like he’s expecting him to disappear any moment. 

Expecting Tsurugi to disappear, just like he did on the Galaxy Nauts Go.

“Let’s get going downstairs to Shindou-san’s pantry.” Tenma says.

“Uh, hold on.” Matatagi begins as Tenma passes him to exit the room. He’s still holding Shindou’s small black and white cat. The name is on the edge of Tsurugi’s tongue. Lute, maybe? “We need to find a bathroom first.”

Tenma stops. “Why?”

“Cause I need to pee, genius.” He says. The cat bumps its head against Matatagi’s chin affectionately. 

Tsurugi has to hold himself back from snorting at Tenma’s impatient little frown. 

Shinsuke is by the door now, just inside Shindou’s room as they all stand in the threshold. “You can’t just hold it?”

“I can just piss on you instead.”

“I remember where one is.” Tsurugi says before Matatagi can decide to punt Shinsuke out the bedroom window, which is open just a crack.

That’s how Tsurugi ends up leading them through the darkness, Tenma still at his side clutching his hand. He earns a well-deserved look from Matatagi and an “Are you sure you guys have been here before?” when they wind up getting lost trying to find their way to the bathroom.

It’s not long before a memory resurfaces in his brain, and Tsurugi remembers with a start that the private bathroom he thought was near Shindou’s room is actually _in_ Shindou’s room. He brought them all the way out here for nothing. He’s not going to say that, or Matatagi will mock him until the day he dies, and Shinsuke will complain about it. Even Tenma might react negatively, due to the circumstances. Tsurugi sweeps his flashlight about the walls and tries to get his bearings so he can discreetly turn them around.

He can tell Tenma is getting impatient and trying hard to keep it together. The captain’s nerves are rubbing off on Tsurugi once again and he finds himself pressing the side button on his phone every few minutes to check if Shindou has gotten back to him. So far, he hasn’t. 

It’s not like Shindou not to check his phone. 

Tsurugi is about to suck up his pride, ask if anyone knows the way back to Shindou’s room, and admit his mistake. This is taking too long. Shindou’s radio silence is making him antsy, and Matatagi is probably about to pee his pants. Tsurugi opens his mouth to begrudgingly admit that there was a bathroom in the bedroom they left all along when Tenma abruptly stops moving. Tsurugi is tugged backwards, and Matatagi bumps into his back with a small grunt. Before either striker can complain, Tenma turns around and practically pushes the other three backwards, forcing them back around the corner they had just turned. 

“Tenma, what are you-”

Tenma reaches up and slaps his hand over Tsurugi’s mouth, muffling his voice. Tsurugi glances at Shinsuke and Matatagi questioningly, but they look just as confused as he is as Tenma presses himself flat against the wall. 

Matatagi leans forward, clearly impatient. The cat squirms in his arms for more attention. “What the hell are you doing?” He whispers.

Tenma doesn’t respond. Instead he makes eye contact with Tsurugi, and instantly the dark-haired boy knows that they need to stay silent. 

Suddenly, he can hear footsteps. Matatagi looks like he’s getting ready to say something again, and Tsurugi elbows him sharply to get him to shut up.

“Ow!” Matatagi hisses, “You-” 

Tsurugi elbows him again, harder than last time, and he finally takes the hint. Matatagi clamps his mouth shut and a look of grim realization blooms on his face.

In the absence of the other striker’s voice there is only silence. Maybe he just imagined the sounds? Is he really paranoid enough to - Holy fuck, there they are again. Tsurugi fumbles with his phone and turns off the flashlight.

His eyes find Tenma’s wide blue ones in the dark as the three players all follow Tsurugi’s example and snuff out their flashlights. The hall is quiet. 

Then, the gentle _tap, tap, tap_ of a single pair of feet against the floor.

It can’t be someone else from the team. None of their friends are wandering alone, are they?

The sound of footsteps from around the corner, in the adjacent hall, steadily grows louder. As if whoever is wandering the halls is getting closer.

Much closer.

Tsurugi has been lucky he hasn’t been in many fight or flight scenarios in his life - the few high pressure scenarios that warranted that kind of sympathetic nervous system reaction happened almost exclusively in space. It’s a pretty short list.

Unfortunately for Tsurugi, that list isn’t so short anymore.

The next thing Tsurugi knows his feet are pounding against the soft carpet of the hallway floor. Matatagi has the cat under one arm and Shinsuke under the other as he dashes ahead. Tsurugi doesn’t even register how much Tenma’s iron grip hurts as they flee through hallway after hallway. He barely even knows where they’re going - just _away_ . Away from whoever - or _whatever_ \- was in that hallway.

As if being led by some invisible force, Tsurugi’s recognition neurons roar to life as he realizes they’re back where they started. Just ahead, only visible by the open door and the moonlight pouring in through the windows, is Shindou’s bedroom.

“In there!” Tsurugi says, and the next moment they’re crashing through the doorway. Tenma’s hand slips out of his own to slam the door shut and lock it. Not even a second later, his flashlight flicks on.

Tsurugi turns his on as well, and when he does he’s met with the scared expressions of his three friends. 

Shinsuke, now sitting on the floor and picking anxiously at the carpet, speaks first. “I don’t like this anymore. I want to go home. Matatagi, why couldn’t you just hold it? None of that would’ve happened if you didn’t make us go look for the bathroom!”

“Hey! Don't act like this is my fault!”

“We almost died because of your tiny bladder!”

Matatagi looks like he’s about to squash Shinsuke like a bug, but stops prematurely when Tsurugi points at the bathroom door in Shindou’s room. Now Matatagi looks like he’s going to squash Tsurugi instead. 

But Matatagi decides to spare him in favor of marching over to Tenma, dumping the cat into the captain’s arms.

“Hold on. Matatagi,” Tenma stops the striker before he can disappear into the bathroom. Tsurugi watches him struggle with the wriggling cat in his arms for a moment before he can jut his hip out towards Matatagi. “Can you do a check in on the Link chat from my phone?”

“Can’t I just use mine?”

“No! Just do it!” 

Matatagi gently reaches into Tenma’s shorts pocket with a huff and a visible cringe, standing as far away as humanly possible. He pulls out the phone quickly, holding it by two fingers, and vanishes into the bathroom without another word.

A moment later, Tsurugi’s phone lights up with a notification.

> **_Inazuma Link - Galaxy Nuts Chat_ **
> 
> **_12:25 AM From: soyokazestep:_ ** _this is matatagi. tenma says check in_

> **_GKshinsuke_ ** _: here!!!_

Tsurugi looks up weakly from his phone to see Shinsuke typing away. Tenma is now sitting on the edge of Shindou’s bed petting the black and white cat in his arms, which is purring and rubbing itself all over Tenma’s soft, baby blue sweatshirt. Tsurugi’s phone lights up again.

> **_Detectivekazuto:_ ** _hi matatagi :)_

> **_E=MCsquared:_ ** _Where should we meet you guys?_

> **_soyokazestep:_ ** _dont ask me lol_

Tsurugi sighs. He begins typing as yet another small cat - white, this time - jumps up on the bed next to Tenma.

> **_Bicyclesword_ ** _: bottom of the staircase main floor_

“Tenma,” Tsurugi prompts, and Tenma looks up at him from where he’s sitting on Shindou’s bed, using a hand to pet each cat. “We’ll meet the others at the bottom of the main floor staircase.”

“Alright,” Tenma nods. 

Tsurugi’s phone lights up again.

> **_BalanceBeamBabe_ ** _: ok_

That could easily be Tetsukado or Sakura responding, but Tsurugi has no idea which of them has Sakura’s phone right now. He’d guess Tetsukado, as that direct typing style is more familiar coming from **_Boxingguy5_** _._ As long as they’re together, it doesn’t matter. If something had happened to them, Tsurugi would’ve heard about it by now, which also means that they probably haven’t found Kusaka and Konoha. But Tsurugi asks them anyway, just to make sure.

> **_Bicyclesword:_ ** _Did you guys find Kusaka and Konoha yet?_

> **_BalanceBeamBabe:_ ** _no_

> **_Bicyclesword:_ ** _Okay. Also Shindou or Ibuki can you respond so we know you’re alive._

The silence that follows lasts one minute. Then another. Then another. Matatagi comes out of the bathroom wiping his freshly washed hands on a fluffy white towel, Tenma’s phone glowing from inside his pocket.

The black and white cat instantly abandons Tenma and darts over to Matatagi, wrapping itself back around the striker’s legs.

> **_BalanceBeamBabe_ ** _: this is sakura also where are you guys this isn’t funny!! :(_

> **_GKshinsuke:_ ** _guys!!!!!!!!!!!_

> **_BalanceBeamBabe:_ ** _Ibuki!!!! Shindou!!!!! Answer!!! :(((((_

> **_GKshinsuke:_ ** _heellloooooooo_

> **_GKshinsuke:_ ** _guuyyyyyyyssssssssss_

> **_GKshinsuke:_ ** _..._

“Why aren’t they responding?” Shinsuke asks while throwing his free hand up in frustration, squinting into the light of his phone screen. 

Tenma looks up from where his arms are working overtime petting the fluffy white cat with two hands. “Who isn’t responding?”

“Ibuki and Shindou.”

“...We’ll go look for them. I think they’re in the kitchen.” The captain’s voice has a timbre to it, like he’s desperately trying not to let himself sound upset. Tsurugi watches as Tenma gently extracts himself from the remaining furry creature demanding his attention.

Then Tsurugi gets another notification.

> **_Inazuma Link - Galaxy Nuts Chat_ **
> 
> **_12:33 AM From: Ballislife69:_ ** _oh my god_

> **_Ballislife69:_ ** _shut_

> **_Ballislife69:_ ** _the fuck up_

“Holy shit.” Matatagi says. “Ibuki just responded.”

Tenma stands bolt upright where he’s just gotten to his feet. He makes a mad dash towards Matatagi. “Let me see! Matatagi, give me my phone!”

Matatagi holds Tenma’s phone in his left hand, his own in his right. He fumbles with Tenma’s in surprise, and hastily tosses it towards the boy who is rapidly approaching him.

Tsurugi can do nothing but watch as Tenma’s phone sails past its owner and falls right out of the open window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's only about one chapter left. Get ready. Oh and also I can't believe how many people are just straight up making out here with no regard to the fact that there may or may not be a ghost in the mansion. Priorities.
> 
> AND ALSO, yes the group chat is called galaxy nuts. Yes it is a balls joke and yes it is just an inside joke - its what we both call the Galaxy Nauts Gou because we are children.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, back at it again with a monster chapter at just over 8,000 words. 
> 
> Welcome to the finale, but don’t worry, this isn’t the end of the story. The epilogue is just around the corner.

There is something about saving the galaxy that makes the rest of Manabe’s life feel different, insignificant even. His parents expectations are high, yes, but they feel wholly achievable when he compares them to his life three months ago.

Minaho walks beside him with a bounce in his step as they wander through the halls of the mansion. Manabe is so glad he remembered to wear his pink slippers - they match his pyjamas - as they’ve been doing a lot more walking than he anticipated. He’s getting kind of tired.

This sleepover is not going how Manabe initially predicted, but there is something about it that brings out a certain type of emotion he can’t place. Solving mysteries once again with Minaho is something he missed. A lot more than he’ll admit.

Despite Minaho’s ambiguity on his stance about the ghost being real or not, he still seems determined to find it before anyone else does, on the off chance it _is_ real. Manabe’s initial fear has lulled to a dull sense of nervousness about the situation. Aliens are different from ghosts. Aliens are concrete, solid creatures with a sense of reality that ghosts just don’t possess. But the figure they saw out the window is still bugging him. There has to be a logical explanation for this.

It feels like they’ve been wandering around for a long time now.

“We should probably find that staircase so they don’t all wind up waiting for us.” Manabe says.

Minaho shakes his head with a smile. “Tsurugi-kun can wait! I want to check out a few more things.”

Manabe rolls his eyes as Minaho grabs him by the arm and keeps marching on. He’s about to open his mouth to complain when Minaho stops in front of a door identical to several they’ve already passed.

He sighs. “What?”

“Look here, Manabe-kun.” Minaho says in a low voice, though obviously excited. “Someone’s been in this one.”

Manabe isn’t convinced, but he looks anyway. Upon further inspection, Minaho is right. The door is identical to the others, yes, but this one is _closed_. Fully. The other doors they’ve passed look like whoever last entered them didn’t bother to close them all the way when they left. It’s a detail that Manabe would have noticed immediately if he wasn’t falling asleep on his feet.

Not that he’s falling asleep anymore. Manabe is definitely awake now.

“It could be Konoha and Kusaka. Tetsukado and Sakura said they didn’t find them yet.” Manabe whispers.

“Exactly.” Minaho’s eyes are sparkling. “This must be where they snuck away to kiss. It makes perfect sense, a guest room.”

Manabe grimaces at him. He doesn’t care much for romance, or other people’s romances other than the standard surface level gossip, and he certainly doesn’t want to walk in on people kissing. Much less his own friends. The thought makes him feel antsy and uncomfortable. 

As Minaho reaches for the door handle, Manabe hopes to God that Minaho is wrong.

The door pops open and their flashlights flood the room with light.

Well, Manabe got his wish.

Minaho was wrong.

It definitely isn’t Konoha and Kusaka they’ve walked in on kissing. Nope, certainly not them.

“I knew it!” Minaho exclaims triumphantly, pointing at the two people on the edge of the bed. He just about jumps up and down as he grabs Manabe’s arm as the other attempts to hide his face from the sight in front of them. Minaho points again. “I knew it!”

In the center of the room, on a gigantic guest bed, Shindou practically leaps off of Ibuki’s lap where the two defenders just witnessed them sucking each other’s faces off. The playmaker scrambles backwards with the back of his hand over his mouth while the goalkeeper leans his elbows on his knees and presses both of his hands to his forehead. Their faces are almost as red as Manabe’s.

Manabe’s glasses are pressing painfully into his nose due to his hands squashing them against his face. He’s not stupid. He knew something was up with these two, but… but… 

Shindou squeaks something completely unintelligible. Ibuki lets out a “You’ve got to be kidding me,” as he falls backwards onto the sheets.

Manabe wants to jump in a spaceship and leave Earth permanently. 

“I knew it.” Minaho repeats, this time with a certain excited smugness. He places his hands on his hips and grins devilishly, and Manabe wishes he could strangle him without removing his hands from over his eyes.

Shindou sighs and tips his head back to stare at the ceiling. He finally utters some comprehensible words. “What...are you doing here.” 

At Minaho’s silence, Manabe clears his throat nervously, peeking cautiously through his fingers. His face feels like it’s on fire. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to look at Shindou without being attacked by the mental image of Ibuki’s hands up his shirt anytime soon. “We’re um, we’re going back to the staircase. Tenma said to meet up there. In the, um, in the Link chat.”

“He wants all of us there?”

Manabe steals a look at Minaho for help but the young detective appears to be having some sort of conversation with himself. “Um. Yeah.”

He watches as Shindou reaches into his pocket for his phone and begins to look through it like he hasn’t checked his messages in at least an hour. Manabe feels hot and uncomfortable and several minutes pass before Shindou reluctantly slides his phone back into the pocket of his silk pyjama shorts. When he does, his face is still bright red and it's clear he was just holding out to see if Minaho and Manabe would leave. Manabe wishes they’d left. Manabe wishes he hadn’t even been born.

Moving slowly, like this is the last thing he wants to do, Shindou slides off the bed onto his feet. In the way that he’s not meeting Manabe’s semi-hidden gaze or even looking in the general direction of the two Earth Eleven defenders, Manabe can instantly tell he’s desperately trying to hide how embarrassed he is. The playmaker grabs Ibuki’s hand to tug him upwards. “Come on.” He says. “We might as well go.”

Ibuki has an arm over his face. “I’m not going anywhere with those two.” 

“We can’t worry Tenma.” Shindou says, though the tone of his voice clearly affirms that he’s in the same camp as Ibuki. He hauls the white haired boy upright. “Let’s go.”

“Actually,” 

All the color drains from Manabe’s face. He glances to his left to see Minaho throw out his arms to block the doorway, a mischievous smirk on his face. Apparently he’s done with his inner monologue. “We’re not going anywhere until you tell us when you two got together.”

Ibuki stands, looking balefully down at the two defenders. He crosses the room to them in just two strides.

Manabe knows what’s coming. He predicted this from the moment Minaho opened his mouth.

Silently, the goalkeeper reaches a long arm forward and grabs Minaho by the scruff of his neck. Minaho doesn’t resist, and continues grinning as Ibuki lifts him up by the neck of his onesie and swings him over the back of his shoulder. 

Resignedly, Manabe allows himself to be picked up as well. He’s thrown over Ibuki’s other shoulder where he glares at Minaho, who continues grinning while hanging limply, pyjama-covered feet dragging on the floor.

“Ibuki-kun, when was it? I’ll bet it was after the game with Falam Orbius. You guys were all over each other. I’m right, aren’t I? Right? Right?”

Manabe can see the appeal of toting Minaho around like a prisoner, but Manabe hasn’t done anything wrong. He doesn’t deserve this, but it's not like he’s in any position to do anything about it.

Without another word Shindou leads the procession out the door. Ibuki follows him with Manabe in a fireman’s carry and Minaho slung over the back of his other shoulder like some kind of annoying orange rucksack. Manabe crosses his arms and stares glumly down the hallway behind them. Minaho is still chattering on excitedly, but Manabe’s pretty sure that all three of them have tuned him out. 

It feels darker than ever, Shindou’s not even using his flashlight, but the playmaker knows the mansion like the back of his hand, right? And Manabe has already come to a conclusion that it’s unlikely there is a ghost at all, especially with how Minaho seems to just be treating it like a game.

So why does Manabe’s skin prickle as he stares into the darkness behind them? Minaho’s chittering and the warmth of Ibuki’s shoulder should be comforting, familiar things. He got pretty used to Ibuki carrying them around like this back in space whenever they’d piss him off. Logically, Manabe should feel safer now than he’s felt since they landed back on Earth.

So why does the hallway look so deep, so dark, like it’s about to swallow him whole?

* * *

Like before, Sakura leaves each door she checks a tiny bit open.

She’s getting nervous. Where are Kusaka and Konoha? They’ve been looking for a long time now, and they’ve found no sign of them anywhere.

Her nerves are definitely not helped by the fact that she suddenly finds herself stealing glances at Tetsukado. She doesn’t quite get it, like, she’s seen Tetsukado with this little amount of clothing on before. In space, she’d seen much more naked-boy-skin than she would’ve liked, considering her teammates’ unfortunate habits of changing clothes with no regard for who’s in the room.

But here she is. Checking out Tetsukado. While hunting down their friends who most likely have been kidnapped by a ghost. Yes, kidnapped. They’re not dead. Sakura refuses to believe that could happen considering Kusaka. Just Kusaka in general. 

She opens the door to another room, her flashlight reveals it to be just an empty study. The light falls upon a desk, a bookshelf, several other expensive items of furniture, and a closet door in the back corner.

It’s identical to the closet door where _that incident_ just happened.

Sakura steals another look at Tetsukado, who is behind her checking the room on the opposite side. His pyjama choice of _almost nothing_ is not making this any easier for her. The two of them really connected by the end of their time as Earth Eleven teammates. During the three months that followed, however, she didn’t hear much from him other than in the group Link chat. But it’s not like she was waiting to hear from him, or anything. Sakura turns back and closes the study door to leave it just a few centimeters open.

“Hey, Sakura?”

Sakura turns to see Tetsukado now looking at her with a pensive look on his face. They haven’t said too much to each other since… well, you know, and Sakura is anxious to hear what comes out of his mouth next. 

“Is there anything else you remember from the night the ghost attacked you and your friends?”

Oh. Phew. Sakura thought he might talk about people kissing at sleepovers again. Not that Sakura wants to talk about kissing at sleepovers. Not that Sakura would ever want to kiss at a sleepover. Especially not with Tetsukado. Nope. Of course not.

“What do you mean?”

“Like…” Tetsukado crosses his arms over his bare chest. “Does she have any weaknesses? That sort of thing?”

Sakura has never considered a weakness to be even a possibility here. Do ghosts have weaknesses? “I mean, she’s a ghost, so…”

“Well, we need a plan of what to do when we find her!” Tetsukado says. He huffs. “You found her before she found you and even then you just barely got away. What if we’re not that lucky?”

“We just have to find her before she finds us! I think!”

“But you only barely got away, you said!”

Sakura lets out a huge breath and leans against a wall.

Tetsukado continues. “What if she sneaks up on us and we never even see her coming? She doesn’t have any legs, so it’s not even like we could hear her, either!” 

Sakura clamps her mouth shut. She doesn’t want to admit it, but he has a point. There would be no way to tell if the ghost was around unless they saw her with their own eyes. She doesn’t want to think about it.

Instead of admitting that Tetsukado is right, she responds begrudgingly, “That would never happen. We fought aliens in space, there’s no way anything could sneak up on us.”

Then suddenly, a new voice calls out, “Sakura?”

Sakura whirls around as she and Tetsukado both nearly jump out of their skin. And there, several feet down the hallway, are none other than the soccer players the two of them have basically scaled the entire mansion to find. 

Sakura’s jaw hits the floor.

It’s Konoha and Kusaka.

Konoha is peering up from where she stands beside Kusaka, concern on her face as she tugs her boyfriend along by his pant leg and approaches.

Sakura lets out a sigh and presses a hand to her chest, feeling her heart rate slowing. 

“Hey guys.” Kusaka says, like he hasn’t been missing in action for the better part of two hours. Sakura forgot he was wearing the tightest and lowest tank top in existence. Why can’t any of these boys figure out how to wear clothes? 

“Oh!” Tetsukado exclaims delightedly, “We found you!” He clicks on Sakura’s phone and begins typing rapidly.

Sakura regards them for a moment. “Where were you?” she asks. “And why didn’t you check your phones?” 

Konoha and Kusaka exchange glances.

“We just went exploring,” Konoha answers simply. But Sakura isn’t stupid. She can put the pieces together. She knows what they were doing.

Since when is making out an appropriate sleepover activity?

A notification sound comes from Konoha’s phone in the silence, and she takes it out of her onesie pocket with a surprised expression, like she hasn’t remembered to check her phone all night. She begins typing and Sakura leans over Tetsukado’s shoulder to see what she’s about to say in the Link chat. 

> **_Inazuma Link - Galaxy Nuts Chat_ **
> 
> **_01:01 AM From: BalanceBeamBabe_ ** _: hey guys we found them_

> **_iloveanimals <3:_ ** _sorry for worrying u_

> **_Matatagi:_ ** _this is tenma glad to see youre okay_

“What?” Sakura says, perplexed, and snatches her phone back from Tetsukado’s hand.

> **_BalanceBeamBabe:_ ** _hey tenma wasnt matatagi just txting from ur phone??? and now ur txting from his??? what happened??_

> **_Matatagi:_ ** _I dont want to talk about it_

“It looks like Tsurugi-kun said to meet by the staircase, right?” Konoha asks, looking up from where she’s obviously scrolled back through the Link chat. “Do you guys know where that is?”

Tetsukado nods. “It’s back this way.”

Their progress has been marked by gently opened doors, so it’s not hard to retrace their steps. Sakura can’t quite remember where the staircase is, though. They’re sure to find it around here somewhere if they just keep going back the way they came, right?

The group reaches a banister overlooking a lavishly furnished living room and Sakura runs her hand over the expensive wood. She can’t see the staircase yet through the dark, but it’s close. She’s pointing her flashlight downwards, trying to catch sight of where the stairs might end, when the light reflects off of something dark and shiny.

She assumes it's just some wooden fixture, another part of this huge and expensive house, but her heart seizes when the thing _moves._

The black, moving thing is not wood. It’s hair. 

Tetsukado has noticed as well. He stops walking, and grabs onto her arm with a tight grip. All four of them freeze as Sakura instantly flips off her flashlight, leaving them all in the dark.

Tetsukado’s whisper cuts through the tight silence. The statement that comes out of his mouth is not a question. “That’s her, isn’t it.”

Kusaka’s low voice follows, unsure. “Shouldn’t we … go after her?” 

A feeling of dread washes over Sakura. It’s a frightening prospect. But it’s also their only option. They have to get to her before she gets to them. The midfielder nods decisively.

“We have to get her before she gets us. Come on!” 

In an instant, Sakura’s flashlight is back on and then the four of them are charging through the dark hallway. Sakura at the head with Tetsukado beside her, she can feel Kusaka and Konoha following closely behind. Her memory has been sharpened by fear and she remembers a staircase is just ahead - a different and smaller one than the one Tsurugi mentioned - but it doesn’t matter. The plan has changed for the time being.

Sakura’s heart pounds in her chest as heavy as her footsteps against the floor. This is it, this is the moment she can finally defend herself. It won’t be like the first time. She won’t find the ghost only to run away. Sakura is going to get the upper hand this time. She’s the hunter, now. 

The staircase is close. She speeds up, limbs pumping furiously. They have to catch this ghost and they have to do it now. This could be their only chance. Their one and only chance to save themselves.

Sakura is not about to let the paranormal subject her to another sleepless night.

Doorways and paintings, hall furniture and god knows what else blurs past in indistinct, shadowed shapes. Sakura can barely see, but she knows her target and she knows that her friends are beside her, so she keeps sprinting.

Until she turns a corner.

Sakura’s hand connects with something soft and solid, and in an instant she lets out a squeak and tries to slow down, but it’s too late. Behind her, Konoha has not gotten the memo, and her little body slams into the back of Sakura’s knees. Sakura’s forehead pitches forward and connects with what is undoubtedly someone else’s. Whoever it is lets out a sharp yelp as they all go down in a pile of limbs.

She momentarily panics. 

Sakura catches glimpses of chaos happening above her head - a lit up phone screen flying off into the darkness, bodies colliding and falling this way and that. 

It’s all very disorienting. Sakura is no stranger to flipping upside down and keeping her head, but this is too much. She instantly flails for a moment and is met with a strangely familiar sounding “Ouch!” Sakura knows that voice. Is that…? 

When the dizziness subsides, she registers multiple groans of pain from her friends all around her. Blearily, she looks around to assess the damage and figure out what the hell just happened.

Only Kusaka has avoided getting knocked to the floor. He’s still standing, evidently as confused as she is, looking down at the cluster of bodies that Sakura recognizes to be her friends. 

In front of the enormous midfielder, curled up on the ground rubbing his nose, is none other than Manabe Jinichirou. He seems to have collided with and bounced off of Kusaka somehow. The only way that could’ve happened was if he was launched through the air. That’s a mystery for another time.

To her right, she makes bewildered eye contact with Tetsukado, who is extracting himself off of where he very obviously took out a certain white haired mess of limbs like a bowling ball. It has to be Ibuki. The goalkeeper is sprawled out at an odd angle, like whatever _he_ fell on is wildly uncomfortable.

Finally, Sakura looks down. Cushioning her fall is Shindou Takuto’s lower half. She’d thought that was his voice she heard when she crashed into him. He has a pained expression on his face as he attempts to free himself. And the weight crushing her legs can only be Konoha.

“What were you _doing_?” Manabe complains. Sakura watches him feel around on the floor, searching for something. His glasses are several feet in front of him.

“What were _we_ doing?” Sakura says incredulously, propping herself up on her elbows to look at him. She’d get up, but Konoha is still on her legs. “What were _you guys_ doing?! Why were you just walking around in the dark?!”

“Uh…” Shindou starts. Oh yeah, she’s kind of laying on him. “I know my way around.”

“Great,” Tetsukado mutters, rolling off of Ibuki. He stands up and crosses his arms. “Now we lost the ghost. Good job, guys.”

“You were chasing the ghost?”

Wait. That’s Minaho’s voice. Sakura glances at the people around her. There’s Kusaka, and Manabe, and Konoha, and Shindou, and Tetsukado, and Ibuki. What the fuck? Where is he?

The rest of her fallen friends begin to stir. Konoha gently disentangles herself from Sakura and Shindou’s legs. Manabe wobbles upright. Sakura herself is just lifting her torso off of Shindou’s when Ibuki sits up and - oh. There’s Minaho, beneath him. Facedown on the floor.

“Get up, idiot.” Ibuki says to the orange lump on the ground. “Stop talking about the ghost.”

“We just saw her,” Sakura says. She smooths down her nightgown as she finally gets back on her feet. “She was on the lower floor. If we hurry we might still be able to find her.”

“There isn’t a ghost.” Manabe grumbles, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “What we should be finding is my phone. I was in the middle of texting the Link chat. Did anyone see where it went?”

* * *

Tenma holds Tsurugi’s hand again as they make their way down the staircase for the umpteenth time tonight. That's not the only thing he’s holding, however, as his other hand has a fistful of the side of Matatagi’s t-shirt, and Shinsuke is walking so close to him he has to concentrate on not tripping. 

He feels a little better now that they’ve heard from Tetsukado that Konoha and Kusaka are safe. It’s not enough to make him let go of Tsurugi’s hand, though. No matter how sweaty it is.

The notification sound goes off on Matatagi’s phone and Tenma releases his grip on his t-shirt, holding out his hand for the phone wordlessly. Matatagi reluctantly pulls it out of his shorts pocket and hands it over.

> **_Inazuma Link - Galaxy Nuts Chat_ **
> 
> **_01:15 AM From: Godsbaton_ ** _: We’ll be there in a minute._

> **_E=MCsquared:_ ** _minaho and I are witslwwvuyw2ph_

> **_Matatagi:_ ** _what???_

Tenma types on Matatagi’s phone with one hand. The sigh of relief he’s just let out now that Shindou has finally messaged the chat is enormous. But the other text is troublesome. He brings the phone over to his other side to show Tsurugi Manabe’s message.

“What does this mean?” 

Tsurugi squints into the bright screen for a moment. 

“I don’t know.” 

“This is where we’re waiting for everyone, right?” 

Shinsuke’s voice cuts through the darkness. Tenma looks up from Matatagi’s phone and sure enough, they’ve reached the bottom of the staircase where they have been emptied into the vast foyer.

“Shindou-senpai said he’s on his way, so we might as well just stay here.” Tsurugi says. His tense shoulders have relaxed, like seeing Shindou’s message has calmed him quite a bit. Tenma silently hands Matatagi his phone back to him.

The captain is about to agree with Tsurugi’s assessment when something to his left draws his attention. This time, it isn’t Matatagi’s muttering. There’s a soft light emanating from inside the mansion’s kitchen space, lighting up the too-grand arching entrance and showcasing the silky white color of the walls.

So those two really did come down for a snack, huh? 

“I’ll just go get him from the kitchen, it looks like he’s in there anyway. I’ll bet Ibuki is there too.” Tenma replies. He gives Tsurugi’s hand another squeeze. “You guys stay here. I’ll be right back.”

The walk through the foyer to the kitchen space is different now that his hands are empty and his feet echo solely on the cool tile floor, which feels like ice. The absence of Tsurugi’s warm palm against his own leaves him feeling especially cold. In fact, as he reaches the arching entrance, he idly wonders if someone accidentally turned the air conditioner all the way down. 

Maybe he should have asked Tsurugi to come with him.

A shiver runs down his spine. 

“Shindou-san?” Tenma calls as he leans in through the open doorway to the kitchen. He had expected his friends to be sitting at the counter, maybe chatting softly and eating snacks.

But Shindou and Ibuki are nowhere to be seen.

Instead, there is what appears to be a household employee, standing at the long island in the center of the kitchen. She’s facing away from him, and from the way her shoulder blades move under the beautiful dark hair that runs down her back, it appears she’s preparing something at the counter. Maybe Shindou asked her to make them a snack?

“Um, hello!”

At his voice, she turns around, startled. Her floor-length dress brushing the tile with a soft sound.

She locks eyes with Tenma, a look of surprise on her face. She’s very pretty, Tenma observes distantly. Of course she is. She does work for the Shindou household, after all. He composes himself to speak up.

“I’m sorry, miss,” He starts respectfully, stepping further into the room to talk to her. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I was just looking for Shindou-san. Have you seen him anywhere?”

“Ah, you’re looking for Takuto-bocchama?” The maid responds. She brushes down her apron and leaves her knife sitting on the cutting board. It glints silver in the kitchen’s lights. “No, I haven’t seen him for a quite a while. I think another one of your friends just wandered by a few minutes ago, though.”

“Which way did he go?” Tenma asks. In reply, the maid lifts a delicate finger to point down the hallway, away from the staircase.

“That person was going that way.” She says. “I wish I could tell you who it is, but Takuto-bocchama has quite a lot of friends. I haven’t gotten to learn all of their names!”

It must be one of Tenma’s teammates. But who, though? From what he knows from the Link chat, nobody has been wandering around by themselves. Maybe Ibuki? No, that can’t be it. Shindou implied he wasn’t alone in the group chat. It’s only natural that Ibuki would still be with him.

“Thank y-, ah!” He cuts himself off, “I’m being so rude! I never asked for your name!”

The maid blinks, like she wasn’t expecting this question. “Omino.” She tells him, “My name is Omino.”

“Thank you, Omino-san!” Tenma says with a smile. She smiles back brightly.

“It’s always a pleasure to meet a friend of Takuto-bocchama’s,” She says, “But I must be going now. Goodnight, Tenma-kun.”

“Goodnight, Omino-san!” Tenma calls after her. She smiles politely and leaves the kitchen out of another entrance, white apron and full skirt billowing behind her. “Wait, Omino-san, you forgot-”

With a look at the counter where Omino was just preparing some sort of food, Tenma stops as he finds that there is nothing there. The knife that had glinted silver in the kitchen lights just minutes before is nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was just cleaning up?

In any case, who is the person walking alone?

Tenma stands in silence, by himself under the lights of the kitchen, thinking. If the person walking alone isn’t Ibuki, who could be the one wandering by themselves? His best guess is Manabe or Minaho. Manabe messaged the chat, but the last part of his message was totally unintelligible. 

Why would either of them wander off from the other? Maybe someone got lost? The mansion is very big. It’s easy to be deceived in the dark depths of Shindou Manor.

“Tenma?”

A familiar, welcome voice breaks him from his thoughts. Tenma turns around to see Tsurugi, standing in the archway. Before he can register his movements, Tenma is crossing the floor towards him. 

Up close, Tsurugi looks distinctly uncomfortable. Tenma grabs his hand as he reaches him.

“Tsurugi!” Tenma exclaims. He inspects him closely with worried eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I’m alright, it’s just cold over here,” Tsurugi reassures him. He scratches the side of his slightly-pink cheek with his free hand, averting his yellow eyes. “Who were you talking to? Everyone’s waiting by the staircase.”

“I was talking to one of Shindou-san’s maids!” Tenma tells him, readjusting their hands to gently intertwine their fingers. He smiles as the shade of red on Tsurugi’s face deepens. “She was really nice.”

Before Tsurugi can respond, Tenma is struck by a realization.

“Wait,” Tenma continues, “You said that everyone’s waiting, right? Are you sure?”

“Yes?”

Tenma scrunches his eyebrows. “Huh.”

Tsurugi gives him an odd, worried look. “Nobody’s missing, Tenma,” He says. “Everyone’s at the staircase, like we planned.”

“Shindou and Ibuki, too?”

“Yes.”

“What about Manabe?”

“...Yes?”

Tenma pales.

Whoever is wandering alone is not one of his friends. They’re all together, where they should be. And if a staff member can’t identify this person, then they don’t belong here. It has to be an intruder.

Or...

He gulps. His eyes flicker in the direction Omino pointed him towards just minutes before.

“Tsurugi,” Tenma says, lowering his voice to a whisper, “I think I know where the ghost went.”

Tsurugi’s eyes study his own. His almost-clammy hand tightens on Tenma’s. “Are you sure?”

Tenma nods.

“Okay… um. Let’s, uh, let’s go back.” He says quietly.

Tenma nods once more in agreement, and the two of them leave the bright kitchen behind them, stepping back into the darkness of Shindou’s house.

The walk back to the staircase through the foyer feels much shorter than it did before. Tenma keeps glancing behind them anxiously as Tsurugi leads the way back. The hushed voices coming from their destination are reassuring, welcome sounds.

As they approach, it becomes clear that everyone really is accounted for. Matatagi gives Tenma a weak wave, it appears he’s ignoring Minaho - who is chatting at him animatedly. Sakura and Konoha sit on the steps together whispering and giggling at where it looks like Manabe is scolding Kusaka, while Ibuki and Shindou talk quietly together on the steps just below them. Standing just a bit further into the foyer are Tetsukado and Shinsuke who appear to be… thumb wrestling? 

Tenma drops Tsurugi’s hand as they reach the group, zeroed in on his target. The chatting around him stops as he makes his way past some of his ex-teammates to hop up on the lower steps and throw his arms around Shindou’s neck to bring him into a hug.

“Hi, Tenma.” Shindou says from where he sits, voice muffled by the soft blue sweatshirt his face is currently being pressed into. 

“Everyone!” Tenma exclaims as he steps back from Shindou. Their eyes are already on him, their curious faces visible even in the dim lighting. Tenma finds himself smiling as he continues. “I know where the ghost is!” 

He’s met with mixed reactions.

“Yeah, nice to see you too.” Ibuki mutters, rolling his eyes. Konoha smiles at Tenma reassuringly. Manabe sighs tiredly as he rubs at his eyes, and Shinsuke gives a weak thumbs up. 

“Tenma-kun, did you find some evidence?” Minaho asks, hopping towards the front of the group. He’s walking strangely, like he’s favoring one leg over another in a slight limp.

“Uh…” Tenma isn’t sure if the knowledge he’s gained constitutes as ‘evidence’. 

Before he can respond properly, Shindou speaks up from his seat on the steps beside where Tenma is standing. “Do we have to do the ghost thing, still?” He’s starting to sound annoyed. “For the last time, Tenma, my house isn’t haunted.”

“But Shindou-san! I-” 

“Tenma, if he says it’s not haunted then it’s not haunted. I think he would know.” Matatagi says, arms crossed. Tenma pouts at him, immediately looking to Tsurugi for help. In vain, though, because Tsurugi has started whispering something to Kusaka.

In front of Tenma, Minaho holds up a finger. “It seems we may need a second opinion.” He says diplomatically. “Maybe we should ask Ibuki-kun since he’s here so often!” 

From beside Shindou, Ibuki deadpans. “What.”

Minaho turns his full attention to the goalkeeper, hand on his chin thoughtfully. “Ibuki-kun, tell us. In your professional opinion, is Shindou-kun’s house haunted?”

“I’m not- I’m not here often. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ibuki says defensively. Tenma cocks his head to the side as he observes Ibuki glare pointedly at the detective. Does Ibuki really come here a lot? Why would he?

Tenma turns his gaze to Shindou curiously, who has his mouth clamped shut as he looks down at where he has begun typing on his phone. Tenma is at a loss for words trying to make sense of this situation that has suddenly developed into something confusing. He looks back and forth between Shindou and Ibuki. The white haired boy looks especially uncomfortable as everyone else has gone quiet, staring at him. 

What on earth is going on? Minaho shakes his finger and responds back to him with a “No need to be embarrassed!”

Tsurugi lets out a snort and Konoha throws her hand over her mouth to stifle what sounds like a laugh.

“Oh, wow.” Matatagi says with a look of stark realization. He takes a step closer, lifting his hand to point at the two ex-Earth Eleven boys seated on the stairs. “You guys-”

Shindou clears his throat loudly. “Anyway -”

“This is great and all, but can we go to bed now?”

Tenma tears his gaze from the staircase steps to look at Manabe. The circles under his eyes beneath his glasses are especially prominent in the darkness. He crosses his pink-pyjama covered arms. “It’s like, almost two in the morning.”

“Are you crazy?” Sakura stands up from where she was just sitting on the steps to glare at the defender. “Didn’t you hear the captain? What about the ghost?”

Manabe shifts his sharp gaze to Sakura, and when he speaks it is the most calm, vicious voice Tenma has ever heard come out of his mouth. “Are you dumb, stupid, or dumb?”

Tenma can only watch helplessly as Sakura’s face darkens. She takes a menacing step towards the mathematician. “Come over here and find out how stupid I am, four eyes.” 

Tenma immediately holds up his hands in front of himself. “Woah, woah, no need to call each other names, guys!”

Neither players look at him. There’s a moment of immense tension.

Tetsukado comes to Tenma’s rescue in one last effort to stop the inevitable. “Come on, you two, don’t-”

He’s cut off as Manabe and Sakura lunge towards each other at the same time. It’s a flurry in the dark, the sharp sounds of two people slapping at each other’s arms and faces. Tenma watches with a mixture of helplessness as Manabe yelps. Sakura grabs a fistful of his hair and they go down together, tumbling to the floor in the most vicious catfight Tenma has ever seen.

“Guys! No!”

Matatagi, ever helpful, begins chanting excitedly. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Tenma brings his hands up to his head in pure exasperation while Manabe sinks his teeth into Sakura’s arm as she catches him in a headlock. Fists are flying. If he tries to get in the middle of them by himself he’s going to get caught in the crossfire. Manabe is hitting Sakura repeatedly with his slipper now. This is totally above Tenma’s paygrade. 

From back on the staircase, Tenma hears Ibuki sigh. “Oh my god. Kusaka, help me out with this.”

Tenma watches as Ibuki comes down from his place on the stairs towards the pair fighting on the ground. Kusaka follows his lead almost lazily, rounding on the other side of the brawl. 

The goalkeeper reaches in and grabs Manabe under the arms, hauling him backwards as Kusaka lifts Sakura above the ground, locking his arms around her middle.

“Aw, come on!” Matatagi groans, the disappointment in his voice exceedingly tangible. Tenma throws him a glare. “It was just getting good!” 

Neither Sakura nor Manabe seem to be letting this interruption stop their battle. Sakura thrashes with all her might, growling out threats, and Manabe lifts his slipper in the air one last time before he chucks it at her face. She lifts a flexible leg to kick it away expertly. 

There’s a distinct pause in the action, Sakura and Manabe both breathing hard in the arms of their captors. 

Minaho reaches over gingerly and fixes Manabe’s skewed glasses back into place on the bridge of his nose.

A crash of thunder breaks the tension. The storm outside still rages on, and a flash of lightning casts the room in stark shadows, light flooding in through the high, wide windows of the foyer.

Everyone freezes, stunned into silence for a moment. Through the random sparks of illumination, something catches Tenma’s eye. One by one, each of his teammates turn to face down the long, dark hallway.

There’s a silhouette at the other end of the foyer. The unmistakable outline of a figure that stands completely still.

That is the direction Omino pointed him towards, isn’t it.

Nobody moves a muscle. Or even breathes. It’s as if they’re frozen in place.

And then, after an impossibly long moment, it begins to move. Coming towards them in a fluid motion, as if it wasn’t walking at all, but floating.

Tenma’s heart stops. His muscles seize up. He can’t do anything but watch as the figure comes closer, closer. He can’t even look at his friends, transfixed by an unrelenting terror and a single, horrible thought.

Sakura said they’d be safe if they found the ghost before it found them. 

He can see the long, black hair shifting in the vague light, a light that never quite reaches the figure’s legs. 

It’s almost upon them.

With a squeak, Tenma snatches Shindou’s phone out of the game maker’s open hand and manages to turn the flashlight on and shine it up into the face of their assailant, preparing himself to see something terrifyingly hideous.

For a moment, all of Tenma’s fear is ripped away, replaced with numb shock.

The face is a familiar one.

He opens his mouth.

“ZANAKUROU?”

Illuminated faintly, Ichikawa Zanakurou, the thirteenth member of Earth Eleven, smiles at him. 

“Hello, everyone.” He says, “How are you?”

The newcomer is met with nothing but silence. The ex-members of Earth Eleven just stare. In Kusaka’s enormous arms, Sakura hangs like a white-faced ragdoll. Even Minaho is quiet - like this is an outcome even an intelligent boy like himself never expected. Tenma feels like he’s about to pass out. 

“I’m glad I finally caught up to you.” Zanakurou continues, “Were you guys playing some sort of game?”

More silence. Zanakurou shifts the rolled-up sleeping bag he’s holding from one hand to the other.

“Uh, hey.” Kusaka, surprisingly, is the first to recover. “It’s good to see you. We were running from the ghost.”

“The ghost?” 

“Yeah.” Kusaka replies. “Shindou’s house is haunted. You should be careful, walking around by yourself in the dark like that.”

Konoha tugs him down to whisper something to him. He stops talking. Tenma isn’t sure what’s going on. 

“Why- “ Shindou speaks up. Tenma knows that aggravated tone, knows that Shindou’s voice is seconds from cracking. “Why were you walking around my house. In the dark.”

Tetsukado clears his throat. “Shindou,” he starts, “You were just doing the same thing.”

“That’s different.” Shindou replies sharply. “Zanakurou, why didn’t you just call someone?” 

“My phone died just before I got here.” Zanakurou explains apologetically, “I didn’t want to be rude and accidentally wake someone up.” 

Behind Tenma, Matatagi is muttering to himself again.

“Who invited him?” The striker hisses under his breath. Not quietly enough, though, because Tenma certainly can hear him. “Seriously, who even likes this guy-” 

He’s cut off by the most long-suffering, exhausted sigh Tenma has ever heard. Of course, it came from Manabe. He kicks his legs and Ibuki slowly sets him back down onto his feet.

“Great! Well, this is just perfect.” The defender says as he brushes down his collared pyjama top. Manabe is clearly pissed off, but his hair has been so disheveled by his skirmish with Sakura that it’s hard to take him seriously. He looks like an angry kitten. “Can we _please_ forget all this nonsense and go to sleep now?”

Tenma winces, expecting Sakura to fly into a rage at being disrespected once again. But when he turns to look at her, she’s staring off into the distance, eyes glazed. The midfielder continues to hang limply in Kusaka’s arms. She doesn’t seem scared anymore, or even worked up. 

That’s odd, Tenma thinks. Out of everyone, Sakura has been the most insistent that they need to go after the ghost. She should still be rattled, with all the evidence of paranormal activity they’ve encountered so far, like the figure in the garden. The figure that looked… extremely familiar, now that he thinks about it. Tenma thinks back to everything that’s happened so far. There’s no way. Unless...

“Wait.” Tenma says, slowly. “So... the ghost was just Zanakurou this whole time?” He looks up into Tsurugi’s face for confirmation, and Tsurugi stares down at him blankly. 

Manabe staggers past him, towards the stairs, and claps Tenma on the shoulder as he goes. “Captain, you are so fucking smart.” He says, his voice heavy with defeat.

“Yes.” Minaho agrees as he goes to follow Manabe, grinning earnestly at Tenma as he stares after the defenders helplessly, “Good observation, Tenma-kun!”

* * *

Tenma is still kind of in a daze as the team makes their way back to Shindou’s bedroom. The mansion suddenly feels much less menacing than before even as they all walk in the dark. Shindou leads the way as Tenma walks sullenly beside him. Tsurugi and Ibuki are chatting quietly behind them as the entire group follows.

Tenma glances at his playmaker. He looks deep in thought, frowning slightly. Something must be on his mind. Tenma musters up a smile. “It looks like you were right all along about the house, Shindou-san!”

Shindou only glances at him. “Hm? Yeah, I know.”

“So… I met Omino-san! She seems nice.” 

Now Shindou gives him a strange look. “Who?”

“Omino-san.” Tenma prompts. “You know, one of your maids.”

“I don’t know anyone named Omino,” Shindou says doubtfully. They turn a corner to step into the hallway that leads to the bedroom. “Nobody who works here is named that.”

“But she was wearing the uniform and everything!” Tenma protests. “She knows you, you must have met her before. Maybe she’s new?”

“I don’t know about that,” Shindou is starting to sound concerned. “What did she look like?”

“Um…” Tenma thinks for a moment. “She’s got long hair down her back, she’s really pretty, uh…”

“The maids don’t wear their hair down,” Shindou corrects him. He raises an eyebrow. “They haven’t been allowed to since I was really little. Did you hit your head, Tenma?”

Tenma frowns. He has nothing to say to that, because he’s pretty sure that Omino wasn’t just a figure of his imagination. He doesn’t remember hitting his head. This night has just been one mystery after another. He’d like to get to the bottom of this one, too, but he’s just so tired…

Adrenaline crashing is a familiar feeling to Tenma. He can already tell he’s going to sleep very soundly. 

Shindou opens the door to his bedroom and everyone follows him inside, neglecting to turn on the lights. Normally, the team might head to different guest rooms about the house, but it feels like this is an unspoken agreement. They’ll all sleep here tonight. Maybe they all missed each other a little more than they thought they did.

Tenma makes his way back to Tsurugi’s side.

They sit on the couch together as the team takes their turns in the bathroom to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Tenma rests his head on Tsurugi’s shoulder as the two of them silently observe the people they once saved the world with.

Manabe and Sakura now sit together on the piano bench, speaking softly. It’s a relief that they are no longer at each other’s throats, and instead of a fist to the face, Sakura offers him a hair tie. Near their feet, Konoha and Shinsuke pet Shindou’s fluffy white cat quietly. 

Over on the other side of the room, Kusaka and Tetsukado are in some kind of conversation that has Tetsukado blushing furiously as he shoves chips in his face out of a discarded snack bag on the floor. Shindou is trying to fix his bed and rearrange the pillows as Ibuki sits in the middle of it, Minaho whispering to him as he shows him something on his phone. Zanakurou is by the nightstand, looking for an outlet for his long-dead phone.

Matatagi has already claimed first dibs on the bathroom for himself. Outside the locked door, the small black and white cat extends its paws under it and meows pathetically for him.

Despite the soft and separate conversations in the room, it’s a serene, quiet moment. Beside Tenma, Tsurugi brings his hand up to stifle a yawn. The captain smiles fondly and lifts his head from his shoulder.

“Are you sleepy?” Tenma asks him quietly.

Tsurugi’s cheeks flush pink and he mumbles, averting his yellow gaze. “It’s late.”

Tenma takes Tsurugi’s hand into his own once more. It’s different this time than it has been all night. Tsurugi’s hands are still warm, slightly clammy, but Tenma takes his time in lacing their fingers together. Tsurugi’s fingers close around his gently, like he’s been entrusted to hold something fragile and precious. There’s an anticipation in the air.

Tsurugi’s voice is quiet. “Are you still scared?”

“Not anymore.” Tenma shakes his head. “I talked to Shindou-san and it all makes a little bit more sense now.”

“What do you mean?”

Tsurugi’s golden gaze washes over his own with a worry that Tenma is familiar with. One he’s seen a thousand times. It’s a soft, protective expression that fills Tenma’s chest with warmth.

“I’ll tell you later.” Tenma smiles. Tsurugi’s gaze hasn’t relaxed and Tenma brings his free hand up to his ace striker’s face to brush some dark hair out of the way. “You worry too much, Tsurugi.”

At that, Tenma leans in and presses his lips to Tsurugi’s cheek. 

Tenma pulls away, he grins as he gets to his feet. “Come on, everyone is already getting in bed. We want to get good spots!” 

Tsurugi is staring at him with enormous cat-like eyes. He swallows once, face slowly going crimson. “I’ll... um, I’ll be right there.”

“Tenma, do you mind getting the door?” A soft voice sounds from behind him.

Tenma looks back towards the enormous bed to see Shindou already curled up at the top, Ibuki close beside him, turned in towards each other. Tenma nods to him with a smile as he pulls Tsurugi up to his feet from the ornate couch. “Tsurugi, go save me a spot, okay?”

“Okay.”

Tenma reaches the door, still open just a crack. The moonlight that pours into Shindou’s room makes the space seem ten times brighter than the darkness of the hall. With his hand on the doorknob, Tenma turns back to rest his gaze on the big, wide window just beyond the baby grand piano.

The full moon shines brightly through. The storm clouds are no longer pouring rain down onto the Mansion grounds, leaving a clear, dark sky in their wake. It’s almost fitting, Tenma thinks, the moon looking down on them like this.

The moon they traveled all the way across the galaxy just to fix back into the sky.

Tenma shifts his eyes to look at his team, piled up and around on the bed all together.

Shindou appears to already be asleep at the upper center of his bed, tucked closely against Ibuki’s chest. At Ibuki’s back is Manabe, glasses-less, shoving a pillow over Minaho’s feet, which lie next to his head. Somehow it is entirely unsurprising that Minaho has decided to sleep upside down. Next to the two defenders, at the edge of the bed, is Matatagi, with Lute purring happily as he makes a nest out of the striker’s hair. 

Closer to the end of the bed, Kusaka lays sideways across the mattress. Konoha is curled up by his shoulder, while Sakura and Tetsukado use his torso as a pillow. Above the midfielder’s legs, Shinsuke has made a space for himself. With so many people on the bed, it’s no surprise Zanakurou has chosen to sleep on the floor, inside of his sleeping bag. 

Tenma’s eyes linger over to the space waiting for him. A small, snug little spot that has been left for him in between Shindou and Tsurugi. Tsurugi lifts his head to look back at Tenma with soft, expectant eyes.

Then, Tenma turns back to the yawning void beyond the bedroom door. The darkness of the house is no longer frightening. The silence is deep, calm and hypnotizing. It rings with a peaceful air, one that promises there is nothing to be afraid of. 

He peers out into the hallway, imagining, just for a moment, that he could see someone.

“Goodnight.” He whispers to the empty manor.

Softly, Tenma closes the door.


	5. Epilogue

Matatagi’s drift back into consciousness may have, in a parallel universe, been a peaceful experience. The soft, cool morning breeze that blows through the window that has been left open a crack resonates with a type of serenity that can only be experienced in a house of this grandeur.

But the manner in which he’s woken up is not peaceful. It’s a slow descent into horror as he comes to the realization that the repeated, sand-papery rasping happening on his forehead is on account of something very much alive. And furry. Matatagi lifts his head off of the soft pillow, sighing as the small cat mews in response and makes its way from the pillow to his lap, curling up there.

Nobody else appears to be awake. He’s still on the far edge of the left side of this enormous bed. It has to be even bigger than a California King for all of them to fit so snugly on it like this. To his right, Manabe is still asleep soundly with what appears to be Minaho’s orange-covered legs in between the two of them. 

The usual deadpan scowl that Manabe is so prone to wearing is nowhere to be found - he’s so peaceful looking it’s almost like he’s a different person. The sleeping defender and the cat on Matatagi’s lap could be long lost twins.

The small black and white cat mewls for his attention again and bumps its head against his bicep. Matatagi gives in, petting its soft head as it purrs loudly. 

“You’re spoiled.” He tells it in a whisper.

A movement just beyond Manabe catches Matatagi’s attention. Ibuki appears to be waking up. The goalkeeper is laying on his side facing opposite him, but now that the striker is sitting up, he can see the slightly smaller, wavy-haired figure curled up between his teammate’s arms. 

Ibuki’s plum colored eyes drift open and Matatagi watches as he shifts a bit before relaxing back down. His arms curl tighter around Shindou as he presses his face into the messy, wavy hair.

Matatagi looks away, face flushing. He feels like he’s just seen something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Matatagi?”

Unsurprisingly, it’s Ibuki’s whisper that cuts through the silence. Matatagi turns his head back to see Ibuki has shifted his position slightly to look over at him. The goalkeeper hasn’t moved very far, though.

“Hm?”

“How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to see you get even cozier with sleeping beauty. I didn’t even think that was possible.”

Ibuki’s face turns pink, but he doesn’t move away from where Shindou is still quietly snoozing into his white t-shirt. The basketball star appears to shake off the comment easily, though, and lets out a quiet snort. “I can’t believe I forgot you’re literally the worst person alive right when you wake up.”

Matatagi raises a thin eyebrow at him. “How long have you even been together? I thought he already had a boyfriend or something. Sure moves on quick.”

“We are so not talking about this.”

“So what is it, huh? You after his money? Not that I can blame you. Dude’s loaded.”

Manabe lifts his head of messy purple hair, blinking slowly to scowl at the two of them from his space next to Ibuki.

His voice is raspy with sleep. “Do you guys ever shut the fuck up?”

Ibuki responds back to him without even missing a beat. “Good question, Manabe. Hey, Matatagi, do you ever shut the fuck up?” 

Manabe mutters something incomprehensible and ducks his head under his pillow, apparently not bothered by Minaho’s pyjama-covered feet anymore. Matatagi flips Ibuki the bird.

A notification sound draws his attention to where his phone sits on the expensive-looking nightstand on Matatagi’s left. He picks it up and looks at the screen to find a text from one of his younger brothers, asking about when he’s coming home. 

He’ll answer that later.

Matatagi slips the phone into his pocket and his eyes land on the half-open window. The breeze feels amazing, the light white curtains blowing in lavishly. That’s the window Matatagi accidentally tossed Tenma’s phone out of last night. An unexpected wave of some strange emotion washes over him. Is it... guilt?

Matatagi glances back over to the other side of the bed.

Ibuki has since turned away again, nestled back down into the sheets. His thumb is softly petting Shindou’s head like he’s sure nobody in the world is looking. Matatagi rolls his eyes. Next to Shindou is Tenma, lying face down on his pillow. Beside  _ him _ is a sound asleep Tsurugi, curled in towards the captain on the edge of the bed.

Matatagi’s eyes flicker over Tenma’s form for a moment. He should probably go find that stupid phone outside. 

He’s about to start getting himself out of bed in a manner that involves maneuvering this damn cat off of him without accidentally waking up Konoha - who is curled up by his feet - when another movement and sound catches his attention.

It’s Shindou. It appears he’s waking up. Ibuki (finally) takes his hands off him to give him some space as he stretches. His movement must have disturbed Tenma, though, because he stirs, too. Still appearing to be asleep, Tenma flips himself over onto his back and the action pushes Tsurugi just enough so that he falls backwards off the bed.

Matatagi winces at the distinct  _ thud _ sound and the squeak Tsurugi makes as he wakes up upon impact. It’s in that same moment that the quiet morning is sliced through by someone’s morning alarm. The sound is coming from a phone just above the pillow Ibuki is using and begins blasting what sounds like the beginning of what Matatagi knows to be a very explicit rap song. He watches as a mostly-asleep Shindou fumbles for the phone in question and hits the snooze button.

If it’s any indication of how the rest of the team is going to wake up, Matatagi figures he’d better take the chance to get out of the bedroom while he can. 

Mornings aboard the Galaxy Nauts Gou were never the most pleasant parts of the day, he tells himself. This experience has not sparked a certain amount of nostalgic fondness in his chest. Nope. Not at all.

Besides, he needs to go get Tenma’s phone.

* * *

The Shindou Manor is actually really beautiful in the daylight. Not that Matatagi would ever admit that out loud. As he exits the bedroom and makes his way down the hall by himself, he feels calmer than he has in ages.

The walls are white, milky, and look like they’re even soft to the touch. The main staircase is surprisingly easy to find now that he’s not wandering around in the dark with a bunch of paranoid lunatics. As Matatagi pauses at the top of it, the small black and white cat that has been following him since he left the room brushes up against his shins. 

He looks down at it as it meows and squats down for a moment to pet its head.

Matatagi makes his way down the steps, the cat close behind him, and he’s met with a barrage of all kinds of things to take in as the downstairs comes into view. There are butlers and maids bustling all across the wide, sprawling foyer, for instance. There is morning light coming in from all angles, illuminating the space from windows he didn’t even know existed. And last, but certainly not least, something smells  _ amazing _ .

Matatagi’s bare feet hit the cool foyer tile as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. He feels very out of place for a moment as the house employees give him friendly nods while they walk by. They’re all dressed to a pristine standard - the butlers are all in deep blue and white vests that look like they cost somebody’s salary all by themselves. 

Matatagi looks down at his own outfit and suddenly feels self conscious about his decision to wear his old hand-me down shorts and the most knock-off, bootleg  _ Sonic the Hedgehog _ t-shirt in existence. He understands why Shindou dresses like an asshole, now.

That smell coming from the kitchen is overpowering his will to just go back upstairs and hide until everyone else is ready to come down.

He’ll go outside to get Tenma’s phone in a minute.

Matatagi pads his way over to the archway leading to the kitchen. It somehow feels even bigger in the daylight, and he nods shyly to some maids who smile at him as he peeks into the kitchen space.

There’s no way this is real, right?

There are several chefs working throughout the kitchen, slicing fresh fruits and tossing spices into dishes Matatagi has never even seen before. The wide kitchen island has been turned into some sort of altar to the Breakfast Gods - elaborate strawberry and peach fruit plates, scrambled eggs, platters full of sausage and bacon and fresh grilled mackerel. There are foods he doesn’t recognize. The thinnest, most delicate pancakes he’s ever seen, and bread that looks like it’s been dipped and fried in eggs and sugar. In the center of the island there is an enormous, ornate bowl of white, freshly steamed rice. 

One of the maids smiles at him as she passes by him on her way out of the kitchen, carrying a plate of what looks like a pile of blueberry pastries. She opens her mouth to say something and Matatagi turns on his heel instantly, face flushing.

He needs to stop gawking like the commoner he is and get on with why he came down in the first place. Matatagi doesn’t even know what door he should go out of to find Tenma’s phone. Or even where he should look once he’s out there. Why does this place have to be so big? Shindou is an _ only child _ , for God’s sake. 

With no other ideas and the smell of bacon threatening to be the only thing occupying his mind, Matatagi makes his way towards the front door at the peak of the foyer. The door is huge, and these house employees will definitely see him go out, but maybe if he does it fast enough they won’t care. He can go around the outside of the mansion until he finds the phone. It can’t be that hard to find, right?

Matatagi’s hand hits the enormous, elaborate door handle.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Fuck. Matatagi pauses. He doesn’t know how to talk to these people. 

“I believe one of your friends may have dropped this.”

Matatagi turns slowly to look at whatever this butler is talking about. He feels awkward and out of place, but even more so when his eyes land on… 

It’s Tenma’s phone. Quite literally on a silver platter. The butler has it positioned on one hand, leaning down to present it to him like this is what the guy does all fucking day. The silver plate gleams white under the lights of the enormous chandelier above and sunlight coming in through the windows. This has to be a joke.

“Uhh…” Matatagi hears his voice crack and he instantly wishes he was dead. “Thanks.”

The butler gives him a smile as Matatagi tentatively picks up the phone from the plate. He stands there awkwardly, letting go of the door handle as the employee gives him a short bow and continues on his way.

Matatagi looks down at the phone in his hand.

Now what?

As he turns to walk back across the foyer, maybe go back upstairs, he spots two familiar faces chatting to each other as they make their way down the huge staircase.

Of course it’s Ibuki and Shindou. Of course. He kind of liked it better when he didn’t know they were together. 

Shindou smiles and gives him a wave as he spots him, to which Matatagi begrudgingly gives him a half-wave back. Ibuki follows along beside the playmaker as they both reach the bottom of the steps and several employees give Shindou beaming smiles and greetings.

It’s not long before the two of them have made their way over. Ibuki doesn’t look surprised by the maids and butlers walking about the foyer, perfectly nonchalant as he raises an eyebrow down at Matatagi from beside Shindou, hands in his sweatpant pockets.

Matatagi and Ibuki have never had much of a struggle understanding each other, and this case is no different. His slight glare has a very clear warning: if Matatagi gives Shindou a hard time he is going to get his ass kicked. 

Yeah, yeah, whatever.

“Hey, Matatagi.” Shindou greets him as he approaches. He certainly fits in even better than any of the employees, even in his pyjamas. He looks down at the small cat that is still bumping its head on Matatagi’s shins. The cat meows up at him. “Ah! Watch out, it looks like Lute likes you!”

Is that the cat’s name? “Uh. Yeah, I guess.” Matatagi says. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“Don’t be afraid of the employees, by the way, you’re a guest.” Shindou says, as if reading him like a book. His gaze then travels to the phone still sitting in Matatagi’s hand and he falters, eyes narrowing. “Is that…?”

“Good morning, Takuto-bocchama!”

Matatagi looks to his left to see a maid approaching. Like all the other maids, her hair is tied up tightly on the back of her head. She smiles softly at Shindou.

“Good morning,” Shindou responds back to her. He turns to give her his full attention like the super-respectful rich boy Matatagi will never be.

“It's around brunch time, but we know you and your friends haven't had breakfast yet!” The maid says, hands folded politely in front of her. “The brunch table is set but if you’d like it switched out for the breakfast table it'll only take a moment.”

Matatagi feels the need to pinch himself to find out if he heard that right.

“That won’t be necessary. The brunch table is fine.” Shindou says, “Thank you!”

“Very well, Takuto-bocchama. Please follow me!” 

Matatagi shoots Ibuki a look as the maid turns to lead them towards what must be one of several dining rooms. He mouths  _ ‘Brunch table?’ _ at the white haired goalkeeper.

Ibuki shrugs at him helplessly, but he’s grinning like this is all incredibly entertaining. He turns to follow the maid who’s leading them to the dining room, folding his hands behind his head in a pose that is far too casual for the setting. Matatagi is uncomfortable with this, and he only grows more so when Ibuki starts murmuring to Shindou.

“Eating at the brunch table when you haven’t even had breakfast? What are you, a barbarian?” Ibuki teases, and Shindou gives him a light punch on the arm. The playmaker’s expression betrays him, though - an irrepressible smile crosses his lips, and his eyes are playful.

Matatagi sighs. “Can you guys stop being gross for like, five minutes?” He complains, rolling his eyes. 

* * *

By the time Matatagi and the two imbeciles he calls friends reach the dining room, several more of their teammates are already trickling downstairs.

When asked about the rest of the team’s whereabouts, Manabe and Konoha just shrug.

“Kusaka’s probably dead.” Konoha deadpans. “He’s a great pillow, though.” 

Normally something like this would get Matatagi’s attention, but it’s insignificant in the face of what waits for them on the table. Sorry - the  _ brunch _ table.

The spread is, like all things in the Shindou house, insanely lavish.

In the center of the room adjacent to the kitchen stands a long, dark wooden table covered in serving trays. Even as Matatagi watches, a maid sweeps in through the doorway and places a plate of fruit down neatly, before she’s gone back the way she came. Thirteen chairs are neatly arranged around the table, each setting complete with a small array of dishes. It’s probably all made of fine china, he thinks with a combination of awe and disgust. 

Matatagi squints at the over abundance of silverware. Each place setting has two forks, a spoon, and two knives of different sizes that glimmer in the morning sunlight. Who the hell needs that much cutlery?

Shindou and Ibuki sit down casually, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Matatagi uneasily follows suit, with Konoha and Manabe looking similarly out of their element. 

There’s already more food than he’s ever eaten in his life on the table, and still houseworkers come in to pile more rice onto a serving tray, or rearrange the plates to add another jar of jam. Matatagi feels as if he’s stepped into another world. There’s no way that this is real. It’s too outlandishly, ridiculously opulent. He must be dreaming. 

On a serving tray near Matatagi’s plate is a mountain of incredibly thin pancakes. He takes one off the top and it looks like practically nothing. So he takes another one. And another one.

The chair next to him slides out from under the table and he looks up to see Manabe, seating himself next to Matatagi. “Never would have pegged you as a crepe guy.” Manabe observes.

“What did you just call me?”

“...Crepe?” Manabe asks tentatively.

Matatagi raises an eyebrow.

“It’s the thin pancake thing.” Konoha explains, yawning.

“If you want pancakes instead, I can have the cooks make them for you,” Shindou says, looking up from where he’s just dunked five sugar cubes into his steaming cup of tea.

If Matatagi’s interactions with the staff this morning have taught him anything, it’s that he should draw as little attention as possible. It’s just too awkward. He won’t survive. “Uh… no thanks.”

However, apparently Matatagi’s experiences are not universal. Beside Shindou, Ibuki’s eyes light up.

“I want pancakes.” He says eagerly, then pauses for a moment, like he’s thinking. “With chocolate chips.”

...Anyway. Matatagi turns his attention to the two people just now making their entrance into the dining room.

It’s Tenma and Tsurugi. Like everyone else who has already made their appearance this morning, they’re still in their pyjamas. Tenma is rubbing tiredness out of his eyes as Tsurugi drags behind him, hands shoved into the pockets of his long black shorts. Somehow the ever-cool Tsurugi Kyousuke looks eons less intimidating with his face slightly puffy with sleep. And the fact that Matatagi watched Tenma accidentally push him off the bed not even an hour ago.

Matatagi picks up one of the too-many forks set beside his plate. He doesn’t know or care which of these is the ‘proper’ fork for eating super thin pancakes. Thin pancakes that he quickly finds out are even more delicious than they smell. While he’s putting down the first fork and picking up the second, there’s an unfamiliar noise that comes from his shorts pocket. A phone notification sound?

He reaches in and pulls it out. It's Tenma’s phone. With all this breakfast-related excitement, he already forgot it was there.

The screen is already lit up. He can’t help but read the incoming texts.

> **_10:45 AM From: Aki-nee_ ** _ : What time will you be home? _

> **_Aki-nee:_ ** _ Tebma? _

Matatagi stares incredulously down at the typo. 

“Is that my phone?” Matatagi looks up to see Tenma staring at him, eyebrows furrowed in a small frown. Tsurugi is leaning on his shoulder, half asleep.

“One of the butlers gave it to me,” Matatagi shrugs. “Here.”

Tenma takes his phone from Matatagi’s hands slowly, with something like wonder in his eyes. 

While Tenma texts Aki back, Shinsuke and Zanakurou filter into the room and take their seats. Conversation is quiet and sparse as the team slowly wakes up, busying themselves with eating breakfast. As they should. There’s a lot of breakfast to eat. Matatagi is destroying these crepes.

Not long after, Sakura and Tetsukado wander in with Kusaka trailing just behind them. As they murmur their ‘good morning’s and take their seats with wide eyes at the spread before them, it becomes clear one seat at the table is intriguingly empty. 

Shindou is the first to notice. Beside him, it looks like Tenma is still texting his guardian like he’s being scolded from behind the screen. “Is Minaho still asleep?” 

Sakura nods almost defeatedly at the playmaker as she drags an entire serving bowl of strawberries onto her empty plate. “We tried to wake him up.” She sighs. “Nothing worked.”

“That guy sleeps like a rock.” Tetsukado agrees from the seat he’s taken beside her. He’s already piling up enough sausage, bacon, and mackerel onto his plate for a small army. Matatagi bites back a remark. Like, we get it, you have protein powder withdrawal. 

“He wasn’t even tired last night. It’s like he’s nocturnal or something.” 

Unusually, Sakura and Tetsukado seem to be sitting particularly close this morning. It’s something Matatagi registers with a feeling akin to dread. He almost gags on a slice of bacon when Kusaka wanders to the other side of the table to give Konoha a good-morning kiss. He’s not even going to glance up to where Shindou and Ibuki are seated.

Matatagi can’t believe he willingly hangs out with all of these saps. He finally has people who he can stand to be around for more than two hours, and not a single one of them can keep it in their pants. Figures.

The food is really too good for anything to bother him anyway, so he keeps his smart remarks to himself and his mouth full of breakfast.

A familiar mew sounds from beneath his seat. Matatagi peers beneath the table cloth to see the small black and white cat - who he now knows to be named Lute - staring up at him with wide, pleading eyes. He peers around inconspicuously to make sure nobody is watching before he breaks off a piece of bacon and offers it to the little cat, who eagerly licks it off his fingers. 

It’s then that, peripherally, Matatagi registers a blur of orange at the doorway. He turns his head to see none other than Minaho Kazuto stumble into the dining room, still wearing that god-awful onesie. His hair looks like a bird’s nest, but his eyes are bright and awake despite the fact that he must’ve been asleep five minutes ago.

He comes to a stop just inside the room as everyone’s eyes turn towards him.

Ibuki speaks first, just as a staff member is setting down a perfectly-delicious looking plate of fluffy and round chocolate chip pancakes in front of him. “Hi, Minah-”

“Do you know that, statistically, a house of this size is the perfect place for a serial killer or other criminal to hide?” Minaho inquires abruptly. “It’s more likely than you’d think. Many people who have experienced this describe that they ignored initial warning signs of a possible intruder. It’s not uncommon for those cases to end in violence.”

The room is dead silent. Even the staff seem to have frozen in place. 

“We’re lucky that it was just you last night, Zanakurou-kun!” Minaho beams. “Any sort of dangerous person could’ve been here all along and we would never know!”

Nobody even moves a muscle. A bite-sized portion of thin pancake falls off Matatagi’s fork. Minaho sits down in the last open seat and begins shoveling rice and eggs onto his plate. 

* * *

It’s surprisingly hard to say goodbye. In a way that Matatagi wasn’t expecting. 

And not just because he’s admittedly grown somewhat attached to Shindou’s little black and white cat.

There is an air of reluctance as they all make their way outside the mansion. Matatagi can feel his feet dragging. Is it already over? Maybe one night will never be enough time for them, after everything they’ve been through together. After three months of separation, after saving the world.

Matatagi always was something of a loner. He told himself it was by choice. But now, being squeezed between Tenma’s arms as the captain gives him a big goodbye hug, he wonders if that’s still true. 

“Next time we’ll have to stay for the whole weekend.” The captain says. He gives Matatagi a pat on the back for what seems like good measure as he pulls away. “And Matatagi, you’re not allowed to say you’re busy. We all know that isn’t true.”

Matatagi’s face turns red as Tenma’s comment elicits several giggles and snorts out of the other ex-members of Earth Eleven.

The striker reflexively opens his mouth to retort that there’s no way in hell he’d spend a whole weekend with them, let alone another night, but the words never leave his mouth.

He vaguely wonders if codependency is a side effect of playing life-or-death soccer matches on alien planets.

“Fine. Whatever.” He says instead. 

Coming back here, seeing his best friends again would be … nice. Matatagi has never really had close friends before. It’s a new thought for him. He doesn’t even cringe when he sees Shindou’s face turn pink as Ibuki leans down to give him what he must think is a very inconspicuous kiss on the cheek.

As everyone else moves to say their goodbye’s, Matatagi turns back and gives Shindou Manor one last, lingering look. 

The outside walls shine brilliantly, just as clean as the interior. All around the vividly green grounds, house employees are hard at work. He can see them moving inside the house as well, bustling to and fro behind gossamer curtains that hang in open windows, fluttering in the gentle breeze.

It hardly looks anything like the medieval, empty, dark castle of last night. 

His eyes sweep over the scene, taking it in everything from the front garden to the sky blue, clean roof tiles. Despite all the detail, the grandeur and color, something catches his eye.

A single window on the third and final floor of the house. 

All the windows beside it are empty, devoid of the people that work and move on the lower floors. It’s as if the third floor is off limits. It’s dark, cold, and empty. 

And yet - standing in one window frame is a woman. 

At first glance, she appears to be in house uniform, but her long, black hair hangs free of the usual tight bun that most of the maids wear. 

It seems that at the same moment Matatagi notices her, she notices him as well. He can’t see her face from this distance, but she lifts her hand in a friendly manner and waves. Bemused, he waves back. 

“Hey, Matatagi-kun, are you sure you don’t want a ride to the bus stop?” Manabe’s voice cuts through his distraction, and Matatagi turns around, returning to where his friends stand in a group outside the gates of the mansion.

“I can walk.” He replies. “It’s not far.”

“Suit yourself.”

Matatagi glances back at the pristine mansion, searching for a face in the window. He shivers as a cool, crisp breeze washes over him from beyond the wide, sprawling Mansion grounds. The window on the third floor is open, curtains blowing lazily in the gentle wind.

There’s nobody there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, we hope you had a good time at the Earth Eleven sleepover spectacular. Please leave us a comment about your thoughts, your grievances, and your favorite parts! Don’t forget to like and subscribe :) hehe
> 
> ALSO…. If you'd like to read our notes / the making of, please feel free to go see our original google doc for this fic. The majority of it is just what you've already read, but our bare bones notes we directly used to write it are listed under “Notes hehehee” on page 71. Know your herstory. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 
> 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ukm8y92rwSVBZcNoa7qMaYxQM1HRGGgHr_NqqWg-XuU/edit?usp=sharing


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